“Patients before patents” (2007)

Millions of people around the world benefit from generic drugs produced in India, the so-called pharmacy of poor countries. In the beginning, a Patent Law exists that does not allow the registration of medicines without there being therapeutic improvements. However, in 2006, Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, challenges the Law in Indian courts. The legal battle lasts seven years and the MSF campaign collects 400,000 signatures. Finally, the Indian Supreme Court dismisses Novartis’s claim that patients are more important than patents.