IP Appellate Board upholds Wockhardt’s petition for relief in diabetes drug patent row

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) on Wednesday ordered that Wockhardt need not produce any additional documents for evidence in a patent case against Novartis AG relating to an anti-diabetes drug.

The Board upheld Wockhardt’s miscellaneous petition seeking relief of additional grounds and producing additional documents for evidence and expediting the main revocation petition pending before the bench.

Patent challenged

Justice KN Basha, Chairman, IPAB, dismissed the petition filed by Novartis.

The dispute is on the patent granted to anti-diabetes drug Vildagliptin, which is marketed in combination with Metformin Hydrochloride, owned by Novartis in India.

The patent was challenged by Wockhardt in September 2013 through a revocation petition before the IPAB.

Wockhardt received the drug regulator’s permission for manufacture and sale of Vildagliptin on May 2013.

Following this, Novartis filed a petition with the Delhi High Court, and received an interim injunction on March 5, 2014. Wockhardt approached the IPAB for early hearing of the revocation petition as its licence for manufacturing is temporary.

The IPAB bench comprising Chairman Justice KN Basha and Technical Member (Patents) DPS Parmar ordered that the documents sought to be produced are available in the public domain on the official website of the Patent Office. Business Line