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The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has issued a stay on the Indian Patent Office's decision to revoke the patent for Pfizer's anti-cancer drug, Sutent.
The stay is valid till May 13, when the main appeal against the revocation of patent would be heard.
The drug is used for treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
The stay comes at a time when multinational pharmaceutical companies have raised concern on patent protection in India after the Supreme Court recently denied patent for Swiss multinational Novartis' anti-cancer drug Glivec.
The IPAB bench, comprising chairman Prabha Sridevan and technical member (patents) D P S Parmar, in the order issued on April 5, said: "Considering the injury that may be caused to the appellant (Pfizer), if the order of revocation is not stayed, we grant stay (till May 13), subject to the undertaking that they will not use the revoked patent against the second respondent (Cipla) herein in other proceedings."
Praveen Anand, counsel appearing for Pfizer, proposed a temporary arrangement between the parties in the litigation, by which a stay could be granted on the understanding that the company would not proceed against Cipla.
Pfizer received a patent for the drug in India in 2007. An opposition filed by Cipla against the drug was allowed by the IPO, which said the patent did not involve any inventive step. The patent was revoked on September 24, 2012. Pfizer challenged the order and an an interim order was passed by a court, directing Cipla not to take any steps towards marketing its drug.
Cipla appealed against this to the Supreme Court, which set aside the IPO's revocation order. The matter was sent back to the IPO. After the rehearing, the IPO again revoked the patent on February 11 this year, leading to the appeal to the IPAB.
