The Delhi High Court reinstated an injunction preventing Zydus from selling a cancer medication due to a patent infringement allegation. The injunction had initially been lifted but was restored following further review. Zydus has now appealed this decision and has taken the matter to the Supreme Court, seeking relief from the reinstated order. The outcome could have significant implications for patent rights and pharmaceutical sales in India.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court recently reinstated an order preventing Zydus Lifesciences, an Indian pharmaceutical company, from manufacturing, selling, or marketing ‘Sigrima,’ a product alleged to be a biosimilar of a breast cancer drug produced by Switzerland-based F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Ravinder Dudeja stated that the single judge “incorrectly vacated” the initial injunction order from July 9, despite “several times” stating that the validity of the injunction would not be examined.
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The bench observed,
“Once the learned Single Judge had taken the position that the correctness or otherwise of 09 July 2024 was not being proposed to be gone into, we fail to comprehend or appreciate how the said order could have been ultimately vacated…[It] is rendered wholly unsustainable,” .
The Delhi High Court was hearing a patent infringement suit filed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG against Zydus Lifesciences, objecting to Zydus’s production of ‘Sigrima,’ alleged to be a biosimilar of Roche’s breast cancer drug Pertuzumab (marketed as Perjeta).
On July 9, a single-judge had initially granted an interim injunction against Zydus. However, the injunction was vacated on October 9, with an extension until October 23 to allow Roche time to appeal. On October 16, the Division Bench reinstated the interim injunction, ordering that Zydus is restrained
The Bench also directed the single judge to re-examine the case,
“From marketing/selling their product ‘Sigrima,’ which is a biological similar of Plaintiffs’ ‘Perjeta®/ Pertuzumab.’”
When the case returned to the single-judge on November 5, Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao, representing Zydus, informed the court of Zydus’s appeal to the Supreme Court against the reinstatement of the injunction. In response, the single-judge postponed the interim injunction hearing to December 2.
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Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Sandeep Sethi, and Arvind Nigam, along with advocates Pravin Anand, Shrawan Chopra, Archana Shankar, Prachi Agarwal, Achyut Tewari, N Mahavir, Riya Kumar, and Agnish Aditya, appeared for Roche.
Zydus represented by Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave and Rajiv Nayar, supported by advocates Bitika Sharma, Vrinda Pathak, Sandhya Kukreti, SL Soujanya, and Rajnish.