DRUG AFFORDABILITY TEST

Feisty is what Natco Pharma is. The medium-sized company (turnover: Rs 350 crore) is seldom out of the news for what appears to be a chronic tendency to fight patents on expensive life-saving drugs. Since 2003 when it hit the headlines for challenging Swiss drug giant Novartis’s patent for the life-saving Glivec cancer medication, the Hyderabad-based company has tried several ploys to break patents on blockbuster drugs and produce its generic versions.

Gopal Subramaniam, Rohinton Nariman swap places in Novartis patent case

The ongoing legal battle in the patent case of anti-cancer drug Glivec has taken a serious turn. Gopal Subramaniam, former solicitor general of India who represented  Government of India in the case, is now representing pharmaceutical company Novartis. What's more, Rohinton Nariman who recently took over as solicitor general from Subramaniam was earlier representing Novartis in the same case.