A treaty too many

Why scientists don’t back Novartis claim

The past two weeks have been marked by significant decisions on lawsuits that have put India’s patent regulations to the test. The case in the headlines has been one related to Natco’s compulsory licence for the manufacture of German drug giant Bayer’s cancer treatment drug Nexavar.

Like it or not

Facebook is facing legal action over its use of the “like” button. In a suit filed in the Virginia Federal Court in the US, Rembrandt Social Media, a patent-holding company acting on behalf of a dead Dutch programmer, Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer, has alleged that Facebook’s success was based, in part, on using two of Van Der Meer’s patents without permission.

Testing the CL route

Last month I ran into Ecuador’s popular president Rafael Correa as he was campaigning for a third term—he has since been re-elected with a record majority—and recalled his path-breaking decision to issue compulsory licences (CLs) to ensure cheaper medicines for his expanding public health programme. The decree, the first such in Latin America, was issued in October 2009 for some much-needed drugs and, six months later, the Ecuadorian government handed out the first CL on US multinational Abbott’s ritonavir, an AIDS medication.

Strong medicine for weak drug patents

Two patents being nullified in quick succession may not add up to a trend. But in this season of revocations, patient groups and public health lobbies and, of course, the generic drug industry are sniffing the promise of a new spring in these decisions even though both can be challenged in different forums.

Fall of a premier institute

WHEN the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research was set up in 1998, people had high hopes. Established in Mohali, Punjab, as an IIT-equivalent premier institute, NIPER was to set the standard in pharma research in the country, while producing experts and offering technical consultations to small-scale industries. For a country whose pharma industry relies on affordable bulk drugs and generic medicines, an institute like NIPER is essential to provide new molecules and innovations that the industry could access.

The Smithsonian steps on the ants

Sometimes, the nicest of people do pretty unpleasant things. So uncharacteristic at times that you are forever left wondering why.

Convention on biological diversity

cbd Page Teaser:  The forthcoming CBD conference in Hyderabad will discuss innovative ways of financing biodiversity from partnerships with business to payments for ecosystem services. Will this save the planet?

Legislation for a few

Safeguarding ancient wisdom