India rejects Pfizer’s patent application for cancer drug
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2023

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

India rejects Pfizer’s patent application for cancer drug

The Patent Controller has rejected the international pharmaceutical company’s application for lack of inventive step, reports The Business Standard

Monday’s holding is the second time that the Patent Office has ruled against Pfizer’s patent for its Sutent (sunitinib) anti-cancer drug. Last October, the Patent Controller made a similar finding after domestic generic manufacturer Cipla filed a post-grant opposition to the patent (patent number IN209251). An appeal to the Supreme Court reinstated the patent with orders for the Controller to rehear the matter.

Pfizer had also filed for an injunction with the Delhi High Court to stop Cipla’s sale of its generic version, which costs roughly one-fourth of Pfizer’s Rs196,000 ($3600) price for a 45-day treatment. The Delhi High Court stayed its hearings pending the Patent Controller’s ruling.

A spokesperson for Pfizer says that the company plans to appeal, and that it “remain(s) concerned about the environment for innovation and investment in India”.

Cipla was represented by Singh and Singh.

Pfizer has faced multiple challenges to its Sutent patent. In 2008, it successfully withstood an application by Natco for a compulsory licence on the grounds that there was a public health crisis in Nepal.

Natco later became the first company to receive a compulsory licence in India after it received one last March for Bayer’s Nexavar (sorafenib), a drug for treating kidney cancer.


For more on this case and what it means for pharmaceutical patents in India, come to Managing IP's India IP and Innovation Forum in New Delhi on March 7.

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Firms explain how monitoring, referrals and relationships with foreign firms helped them get more work at the TTAB
Luke Toft explains why he moved back to Fox Rothschild after working in-house at Sleep Number for five months
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis coverage from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
In a seminal ruling, the Beijing Internet Court said images generated by Stable Diffusion counted as original works
Boston-based John Lanza is hoping to work more with life sciences colleagues on the ‘exciting’ application of AI to drug discovery
The Delhi High Court has expressed its willingness to set global licensing terms in the Nokia-Oppo dispute, but it must deal with longstanding problems first
Some patent counsel are still encountering errors even though the USPTO has fully transitioned to the new system
A senior USPTO attorney spoke at a Nokia-sponsored event on the EU’s proposed SEP Regulation today, November 29
IP counsel are ‘flooded’ with queries from clients worried about deepfakes, but the law has so far come up short
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP practitioner about their life and career