Indian officials may resurrect Pfizer's Sutent patent

First, it was a string of intellectual-property disputes. Then, it was controversial price caps. But just as the situation for Big Pharma in India seemed its most dour, India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board may have thrown Pfizer a bone. It has gone back on last year's decision--for now--to revoke the patent for Pfizer's cancer drug Sutent.

According to the Hindu Times, the board set aside the revocation yesterday, asking India's patent office to reconsider. It cited a Pfizer ($PFE) affidavit that the patent controller apparently didn't pass along to the board reviewing Sutent's case. As such, the board never had the opportunity to weigh that evidence before submitting its advisory report back to the controller.

"The Report of the Board is an important material in the post-grant proceedings. The Controller is free to agree or disagree with it, but he must consider the report," the board told the Times. "Similarly the entire evidence must be before the Board, which is free to draw its own conclusion from the evidence."

Pfizer originally won its patent for the kidney cancer drug in 2007, but Indian drugmakers Cipla and Natco Pharma opposed it soon afterward. Then, last October, the Indian Patent Office yanked Sutent's patent, adding to industry concerns about India's commitment to intellectual-property rights. Two months later, India's Supreme Court ordered the patent office to reconsider the case, but at the same time, it lifted the injunction preventing Cipla from launching a generic.

Pfizer's struggles in India have not been unique. Roche ($RHHBY) faced a similar situation when its hepatitis C drug Pegasys lost patent protection last November. Novartis ($NVS) fought unsuccessfully for years for patent protection for its cancer drug Glivec and ultimately lost, while India forced Bayer to license its cancer drug Nexavar to Natco, which then launched a cheaper copy.

All of these disputes have left some shaking their heads and wondering whether India is the profit generator they thought it would be. With growth at a standstill in the U.S. and Europe, many companies have looked to capitalize on emerging markets like India through takeovers and partnerships. But considering the series of patent woes, along with price controls set to kick in this summer that could cut deep into profits, the climate in India might not be quite as hospitable for foreign investors as Big Pharma thought.

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