Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG will move hundreds of millions of dollars in planned investments from India to China over the next few years in response to an Indian court ruling that weakens intellectual property rights on new medicines, according to a report on the Financial Times' Web site.

Earlier this month, Novartis appealed against an earlier Indian ruling to reject patents on its leukemia drug Glivec. But the court argued that "incremental innovation" didn't qualify it as a new chemical, justifying protection.

Commenting on the ruling, Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella told the FT that his "concrete plans" for research investments in India stalled during the trial and would now go elsewhere instead.

"This (ruling) is not an invitation to invest in Indian research and development, which we would have done. We will invest more in countries where we have protection. It's not a punishment, it's just a question of the culture for investment. Do you buy a house if you know people will break in and sleep in your bedroom?"

Vasella also told the FT he had no plans for a new appeal against the latest Indian court ruling, saying that it was a matter for the World Trade Organization.