India: the Sunitinib case

In October 2007, Sugen Inc was granted a patent for anti-cancer drug sunitinib (Patent No. 209251) by the Indian Patent Office (IPO). In September, 2012, this patent was revoked by the IPO on grounds of obviousness in a postgrant opposition proceeding filed by Cipla. The patentee challenged this decision by filing a writ petition before the High Court of Delhi primarily claiming that principles of natural justice were not followed since the opposition board’s recommendations were not supplied to it for rebuttal.