Russian drugmaker to receive compulsory license for Pfizer's drug

The Russian Intellectual Property Rights Court has upheld the decision of the previous court to provide the Russian generic drugmaker Nativa with a compulsory license on the production of an antitumor drug Sutent (sunitinib), which is originally produced by the USA’s Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

The compulsory license to use the Pfizer's patent for sunitinib was granted to Nativa by the Moscow Arbitration Court on January 25, 2019. Later in the year this decision was confirmed by the Russian Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal.

In the meantime, lawyers that represented the interests of Pfizer in the Russian court, described its latest decision as "unprecedented, which kills all the basics of patent law in Russia." According to them, the company will appeal it in the highest Russian courts.