Bayer takes patent linkage case to India's Supreme Court

01 April 2010

India's Supreme Court will hear an appeal by German drug maker Bayer in a case that aims to link the country's IP office and its drug regulator

Peter Ollier, Hong Kong

The Court granted Bayer's special leave petition on February 26, but rejected the company's request that it issue an injunction to prevent Indian drug maker Cipla from selling its generic version of cancer treatment drug sorafenib tosylate.

Bayer filed a writ petition in October 2008 against the government of India and Cipla that asked the Delhi High Court to direct the Office of the Drug Controller General of India not to grant regulatory approval for Cipla's own version of the drug because because Bayer owns the patent.

Bayer, which markets sorafenib under the brand name Nexavar, also argued that Cipla's drug was "spurious". India's Drugs and Cosmetics Act states that a drug is spurious if it is "an imitation of, or is a substitute for, another drug or resembles another drug in a manner likely to deceive".

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