Indian Patent Office Rejects Bayer Bid to Patent New Form of Cancer Drug

摘要

The Indian Patent Office on Feb. 24 rejected a patent, application by German drug manufacturer Bayer Healthcare AG for a "thermodynamically stable form of a tosylate salt" of the anti-cancer drug sorafenib, sold under the brand name Nexavar. The patent was rejected on the basis of pre-grant opposition filed by Indian generic drugmaker Natco Pharma Ltd and oncology researcher and drugmaker Fresenius Oncology Ltd. The Patent Office upheld the opponents' contentions that the polymorphic form of the drug for which a patent was being sought was not sufficiently inventive and the applicant had failed to prove that it improved therapeutic efficacy over existing drugs.