The Supreme Court has once again rescheduled the controversial imatinib mesylate (Glivec) case between the Swiss pharma major Novartis AG and the Union of India & Others to September 11.  The case was supposed to start final arguments today.

In this long pending case, Novartis is challenging Section 3(d) of India's Patents Act which prohibits 'evergreening' - the practice of multinational pharma companies to extend their patent terms by making small and trivial changes to existing molecules and thereby preventing manufacture of generic drugs.

The Swiss pharma major moved supreme court (SLP-(C) No.20539-20549/2009) way back in 2009 after the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) rejected its appeal for a patent on the beta-crystalline form of imatinib mesylate, an anti-cancer drug.

The case was pending in the court for quite some time. It was listed before the Supreme Court for several times since October 17, 2011. But the final argument in the case is yet to take place.   After several adjournments, the case was re-scheduled for final hearing on August 22, 2012.

Now the case will come up for final hearing on September 11.