In a major decision that is likely to impact evergreening of
pharmaceutical patents in India, the Delhi High Court vacated
interim injunctions granted to AstraZeneca, a big pharma
multinational, against three generics manufacturers, Micro Labs,
Natco Pharma, and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories. The case involved
allegations of infringement of AstraZeneca's three patents, for
offering a generic version of AstraZeneca's drug-TICAGRELOR for
sale under the brand name BRILINTA.
AstraZeneca has three Indian patents (IN '907, IN '984,
IN '674) for Ticagrelor, a platelet inhibitor drug, which
serves patients that recently suffered a heart attack. IN '907
covers TICAGRELOR by disclosing a number of compounds by Markush
structure. It also claims TICAGRELOR specifically in an
individualized form. IN'984 discloses a crystalline form of
TICAGRELOR, and IN'674 covers the finished pharmaceutical
formulation of TICAGRELOR.
