After a seven-year battle, India's government has successfully defended its right to reject drug patents if a medicine doesn't deserve one…On Monday, India's Supreme Court upheld decisions by lower courts to reject a patent on Gleevec, or Glivec, a cancer medicine produced by the Swiss drug company Novartis…At the end of 2012, eight million people were receiving treatment worldwide, including nearly two million South Africans. "This case is extremely important for people living in low- and middle-income countries outside India," said Jennifer Cohn, medical coordinator of the Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Access Campaign. "The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the section 3(d) of the Indian patent law helps to maintain access for generics for millions."
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