What is the issue with the patent application on Glivec?
There are two aspects. In Glivec’s case, the issue is a new form of the drug. So, the active ingredient is the same and the salt is different. And we have seen that the absorption of this is better than the original. It is true that the original patent with the original salt form could not be granted for a technical reason because everything before 1995 could not. In this case, we patented this new salt form in 40 countries because we had evidence from our experiments that this would make it easier to absorb, which again means better levels in the body, less variability in the effect. So, that’s again an advantage to the patient. Now, India says, no, you are not going to patent that until you have proven in people that this really translates into the advantage that you foresee from animal studies. Patents (all over the world) are normally given at a time when a scientist can document any invention — a molecule in this case — and some of its effects. In this case, it was through animal
