4 Years After Her Death, Court Says Centre Can Make Cancer Drug She Needed
The Kerala High Court ruled that the Indian government has the legal authority to manufacture or authorize the production of patented life-saving drugs to ensure affordability. This decision follows a case initiated by a cancer patient who struggled with the high cost of targeted therapy.
Why it matters
It sets a significant legal precedent for balancing intellectual property rights with the right to healthcare for low-income citizens.
She went to court because the cancer medicine that could help her stay alive was too costly. She died before the case ended.More than four years later, the Kerala High Court has ruled that the central government has the legal power to manufacture patented life-saving medicines, or authorise another company to make them, and supply them to patients who cannot afford market prices.Justice Harisankar V Menon ruling stated that Section 100 of the Patents Act, 1970, allows the government to use a patented invention for government purposes. The court said this power can include making a patented medicine available to "the needy patient" on a non-commercial basis when the medicine is sold at an exorbitant price.But the court did not direct the Centre to immediately start manufacturing the drug.
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