Novartis shares fall 7% after Supreme Court rejects patent for cancer drug

Shares in drug maker Novartis AG fell sharply after the Supreme Court ruled that the Swiss giant's cancer treatment Glivec does not deserve a patent in India. The ruling was being closely watched by global drugmakers who have been battered by recent intellectual property decisions in India.

Novartis shares were down 5 per cent to Rs 571 as of 10.47 a.m. The stock hit a low of Rs 558 immediately after the order was announced.

Ranjit Kapadia of Centrum Broking said the drug major had conceded that it had a weak case and so the stock has been under pressure.

Novartis shares are down 15 per cent over the last quarter underperforming the broader BSE Healthcare index.

However, Kewal Handa, former managing director of Pfizer told NDTV that the decision is a big worry for MNCs.

"It's worrying for India because we are a departure from the global rules of innovation. This means we are not rewarding innovation... Affordability and patentability are different issues," Mr Handa said.

Shares in Indian drug makers were unaffected by the Supreme Court verdict. Cipla and Natco are already selling generic versions of Glivec in India. Natco was up 4.5 per cent, while Cipla rose 2 per cent at 11:33 a.m.

Analysts say that will be a big win for generic drugmakers given huge difference in prices of monopoly drugs, and as other emerging countries are also expected to follow he apex court's decision.

Novartis has been fighting since 2006 to win a patent for Glivec, which many oncologists view as a major advance in treating chronic myeloid leukaemia, which kills 80-90 percent of sufferers, and some gastrointestinal cancers.

India has refused protection for Glivec on the grounds that it is not a new medicine but an amended version of a known compound - a decision consistent with domestic patent law which sets tight restrictions on multiple patents for a drug.

By contrast, in the United States, amended versions can be patented.

Novartis was seeking to overturn a clause in Indian Patents Law that restricts patent protection for newer forms of existing molecules, and next week's ruling could set a precedent for how other similar patent claims are treated.


(With inputs from Reuters)