How UCLA is fighting proxy patent battle for expensive cancer drug in India

UCLA appears to be representing the pharma firms Pfizer, Medivation and Astellas in its battle. They aren't telling the Delhi high court about this

Xtandi is a life-prolonging cancer drug and sells at about Rs 2.7 lakh for a month’s course in India — that’s for four tablets daily. It works for patients with stage-four prostate cancer who have exhausted their drug options and also cannot be treated with castration. The prostate is among the top 10 sites of cancer in the Indian population and prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men worldwide.

Xtandi does not have a patent in India. Its patent application was rejected in 2016 on the grounds of “obviousness and lack of patentable invention”. This means patients