The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) is likely to move a petition with the Madras High Court today impleading the court to include the association as a respondent in the Gleevec case, it is learnt.

If the court admits the appeal, IPA's involvement in the issue will give a new dimension to the Gleevec issue, the first major pharmaceutical IP case in the new product patent era in India.

Earlier, Novartis had said that the filing of the writ petitions with the Madras High Court demonstrates Novartis' strong commitment to defending international intellectual property standards and its right to obtain patents for its innovative compounds under the TRIPS agreement.

The case comes for hearing before a single bench in the Madras High Court, today.

As reported, on May 19, 2006 Novartis had filed seven cases against the Government of India, the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), a 35-year-old cancer patients group, and other generic companies in the High Court of Madras challenging the rejection of the patent application for Gleevec. Novartis also challenged section 3(d) of the Patents (Amendment Act), 2005. Novartis' 1998 application for a patent on imatinib myselate was opposed by CPAA and later rejected by the Chennai patent office on January 25, 2006.

However when contacted, D G Shah, director general of IPA, declined to confirm the development.