Sanofi may sue Pune firm for Thai exports

In yet another instance of a patent fight between an Indian pharma company and a global giant, Europe's biggest drug firm Sanofi Aventis has threatened to sue Pune-based Emcure if the latter exports the generic version of its patented heart drug Plavix to Thailand.

In a legal notice issued to Emcure's Thailand agent Bioscience on August 25, Sanofi has said that any move to import and supply Clopidogrel (Plavix) before the patent expires will be an infringement of Sanofi's exclusive patent rights under the Thai law.

The notice, a copy of which is with Business Standard, also indicates that no compulsory licence for the drug existed in Thailand and the patent rights will remain until it expires in 2019.

Bioscience was planning to import the medicine from Emcure to supply the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) of Thailand. Emcure officials refused to comment and Sanofi officials were unavailable for a response.

This is the third example of patent litigation between Indian companies or the government and global drug majors.

Earlier, Swiss major Novartis took the government to court against patent rejection of its cancer drug Glivec. Similarly, Pfizer had dragged a Philippines firm to court for importing test samples of its patented drug Norvasc from India.