How is that relevant to the Novartis case?
The Novartis application seems to relate to an isomer of an existing compound. That is, the active ingredient in Gleevac was known. Novartis felt that it was the first to invent the isomer of that compound. The Chennai patent office felt that it is just another form of an already known and existing compound and hence, did not qualify as an invention. When the atoms of a known compound are arranged differently, we call them isomers. Thus, an isomer of Chemical A will have the same chemical formula although the atoms are arranged differently. (Different structure but same formula). Novartis argues that isomers should be considered nonobvious over the existing compound. Now, the US case. What was it about? Pfizer, a huge pharmaceutical giant filed a suit against Apotex, a generic drug maker for infringing its patent on Norvasc. Norvasc is used to treat hypertension and some forms of angina. The active ingredient in the drug Norvasc is amlodipine but the ingredient is tinkered with and mad
