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Cost of diabetes treatment will likely be reduced after HC order on drug patent

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Rupali Mukherjee    22 July 2021

The cost for treating diabetes will likely reduce as the Delhi high court has dismissed an appeal by AstraZeneca seeking the restraining of the generic versions of a blockbuster drug.

The company was also suing some domestic companies for infringement of patents covering the drug. The court order will allow for more affordable versions of the anti-diabetes drug dapagliflozin by Indian companies.

A division bench of the Delhi High Court, on July 20, dismissed AstraZeneca’s appeal, and stated that there was no reason to interfere with previous orders of last year on two patents. In November, the court had rejected AstraZeneca’s appeal that sought a restraining order against marketing of the anti-diabetes drug by generic companies, Intas, Zydus, Alkem, USV, Eris Life Sciences, Torrent, MSN, Micro Labs and Ajanta.

With around a dozen companies bringing in generic versions at competitive prices, a price war between the players is inevitable, experts said. AstraZeneca holds two patents for the drug in the country. The first one (IN 147) expired in October, 2020, while the second one (IN 625) will expire in May 2023. The second patent does not have inventive merit over what has been already there in the earlier patent.

S Majumdar, who was representing the generic companies, said that the judgement was a landmark decision in patent law as it recognized the need to avoid double-patenting. This will have a direct impact on diabetic patients as after the term of first patent of Astra for dapagliflozin expires, the generic companies can also make the drug available at competitive prices.    

The bench stated, “We, at least at this stage, are unable to, in the face of the aforesaid pleadings of the appellants/plaintiffs themselves, find any difference between IN 147 and IN 625.” The order said, “In our opinion, with respect to one invention, there can be only one patent. The appellants/plaintiffs herein, however, while claiming one invention only, that is, DAPA, are claiming two patents with respect there to, with infringement of both, by the respondent(s)/defendant(s). The same alone, in our view, strikes at the very root of the claim of the appellants/plaintiffs and disentitles the appellants/plaintiffs from any interim relief.” A fine has been imposed on AstraZeneca.

Source: ET Healthworld

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