India's Supreme Court turned down Novartis' patent bid for an updated version of Glivec (imatinib mesylate), its blockbusting leukemia medication, saying that the updated compound "did not satisfy the test of novelty or inventiveness" required by the country's legislation. The ruling means that generic drugmakers can continue manufacturing and selling copies of Glivec at low prices. For the last seven years, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has been fighting a legal battle to gain patent protection for what the company calls an updated version of its top-selling leukemia drug...
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