With a view to ensure availability of lifesaving drugs to the patients of the country, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) yet again took a patient friendly stand by upholding the previous decision passed by the Indian patents office in 2007 by denying patent protection to AstraZeneca's anti-cancer drug Gefitinib. The IPAB on 26 of this month dismissed the British drugmaker, AstraZeneca’s petition citing that the molecule from the British company lacked invention.

Ironically, this is the third time that the company has been denied patent right over the anti-lung cancer drug. The company in a petition had challenged an earlier ruling by the Indian patents office that refused patent protection for a cancer-fighting drug. The patents office in 2007 had refused patent protection to AstraZeneca’s quinazoline molecule, stating lack of invention, which the IPAB upheld.

This decision though frowned by the multi nationals across the world, comes as huge relief to all the patients in the country who will now be able to get access to lifesaving drugs at a far more affordable price. Interestingly, this is the second such high profile decision passed by the IPAB in such a short span which is aimed at providing lifesaving drugs to all the patients across segment. Earlier this month the board had revoked a six-year-old Indian patent granted to Roche’s hepatitis C drug Pegasys, citing lack of evidence that the drug has any proven therapeutic properties.