Supreme Court Refuses To Revoke Injunction Against Sale Of Zydus Lifesciences' Breast Cancer Drug

The Supreme Court on Monday seconded the Delhi High Court's injunction against Zydus Lifesciences Ltd. to manufacture and sell its breast cancer drug Sigrima in the market.

The top court, without delving into the merits of the case, sent the matter back to the high court for an expeditious adjudication.

Despite Zydus' contention that the drug will help millions of women in the country, the apex court said that the high court is slated to hear the case, and that the injunction cannot be done away with for now.

The high court has been directed to take up the case for hearing on Dec. 2.

In July this year, a single-judge bench of the high court restrained Zydus Lifesciences from selling its Sigrima in the market in response to a plea moved by F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical giant.

The Swiss company had raised a contention that Zydus' Sigrima was biosimilar to Hoffman's Pertuzumab. The multinational drugmaker said that the composition of the two drugs was similar, which was leading to a case of patent infringement.

Later in October, this injunction against Sigrima was vacated by the bench on the ground that that no case of 'claim mapping' was made out by the Swiss company. Claim mapping is a process through which a patent's claim is compared to the allegedly infringing product or method.

However, a division bench of the high court overturned the decision, stating that said order was unsustainable. "We have no hesitation in holding that the impugned order is rendered wholly unsustainable", the division bench said. The division bench, through its decision, restored the injunction against the sale of Zydus' breast cancer drug.