International medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF), which has been spearheading the NGOs campaign for accessible drugs today welcomed the Chennai High Court ruling in the Novartis case, terming it as a major victory for patients' access to affordable medicines in developing countries.

"This is a huge relief for millions of patients and doctors in developing countries who depend on affordable medicines from India," said Dr Tido von Schoen-Angerer, director of the MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. MSF has been in the forefront of organising campaigns worldwide to put pressure on Novartis to drop the case and urge the Government to defend the law sternly.

"The Court's decision now makes Indian patents on medicines that we desperately need less likely. We call upon multinational drug companies and wealthy countries to leave the Indian Patents Act alone and stop pushing for ever stricter patent regimes in developing countries,'' Dr Tido said.

"A ruling in favour of the company would have drastically restricted the production of affordable medicines in India that are crucial for the treatment of diseases throughout the developing world,'' the statement said.

Developing country governments and international agencies like UNICEF and the Clinton Foundation rely heavily on importing affordable drugs from India, and 84 per cent of the anti retrovirals that MSF prescribes to its patients worldwide come from Indian generic companies. India must be allowed to remain the 'pharmacy of the developing world.'

Over 420,000 people worldwide signed a petition requesting Novartis to drop the case because of the devastating impact Novartis's actions could have on access to essential medicines. Among them were Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Global Fund Director Michel Kazatchkine, members from the European Parliament and the US Congress, former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, former UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Norwegian Development Minister Erik Solheim, as well as authors John Le Carré and Naomi Klein.