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Informist, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notices to the Controller of Patents, Novartis AG, Astex Therapeutics Ltd. and others on a petition by Natco Pharma Ltd. challenging the grant of patent for Ribociclib compound. However, the court said that it will first decide whether Natco Pharma's plea was maintainable after the respondents alleged that the petitioner had an equally efficacious remedy to file the case. The court will hear Natco Pharma's plea next on Sept. 16.

 

The case has its genesis from Novartis AG and Astex Therapeutics filing a patent application titled 'Pyrrolopyrimidine Compounds as CDK Inhibitors' in 2011, claiming the compound Ribociclib, which is used to treat early, advanced, or metastatic breast cancer. Natco Pharma had filed its opposition to the patent application.

 

Natco Pharma said that there was lack of inventive step for the patent Ribociclib and Novartis and Astex Therapeutics had earlier already claimed the patent on Ribociclib in genus application, which has an earlier priority date. However, the patent department rejected the objections and granted patent registration to Novartis and Astex Therapeutics.

 

The patent department has erred by failing to appreciate that Novartis and Astex Therapeutics, by securing two patents for the same invention, are unlawfully extending the term of protection of the patent, through the patent application, said Natco Pharma. Novartis and Astex Therapeutics will, through the second patent, even after the previous patent's expiry, continue to assert unlawful rights over the same molecule, which is a clear case of double patenting, said Natco Pharma.

 

The patent department's order has given an unlawful monopoly to Novartis and Astex Therapeutics, which have earlier also secured an order restraining the petitioner from launching Ribociclib until the expiry of the patent in 2027. Novartis and Astex Therapeutics cannot simultaneously obtain a fresh monopoly until 2029 for the same patent, said Natco Pharma. The petitioner has urged the court to set aside the patent department's order on giving grant of patent registration to Novartis and Astex Therapeutics.

 

At 1338 IST, the shares of Natco Pharma Ltd. were up 0.6% at INR 922.10 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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