--- title: "A fresh public-interest litigation invoking Section 100 of the Patents Act against another high-cost patented drug will surface in a different Indian High Court within six months, with Merck & Co, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche all facing renewed scrutiny of their India oncology and rare-disease portfolios." description: "The Kerala High Court ruled this week that the Centre can invoke Section 100 to manufacture and sell a patented medicine to needy patients on a non-commercial basis whenever it is priced exorbitantly," url: "https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/136/a-fresh-public-interest-litigation-invoking-section-100-of-the-patents-act-again" markdown: "https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/136/a-fresh-public-interest-litigation-invoking-section-100-of-the-patents-act-again.md" index: "https://bilby.ai/llms.txt" --- > For agents: Bilby answers questions about what governments do, from documents collected at source and checked by research analysts. To ask Bilby yourself, connect to its MCP server at https://pulse.bilby.ai/mcp (setup: https://docs.bilby.ai/developers/mcp-server). Every page on this site is also markdown: add .md to its address, or send Accept: text/markdown. https://bilby.ai/llms.txt lists them all. # A fresh public-interest litigation invoking Section 100 of the Patents Act against another high-cost patented drug will surface in a different Indian High Court within six months, with Merck & Co, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche all facing renewed scrutiny of their India oncology and rare-disease portfolios. - **Made:** 29 Sep 2026 - **By:** Owen Bae - **Market:** India - **Outcome:** Unresolved The Kerala High Court ruled this week that the Centre can invoke Section 100 to manufacture and sell a patented medicine to needy patients on a non-commercial basis whenever it is priced exorbitantly, arising from a case over Novartis's breast cancer drug Ribociclib, priced around ₹75,000 ($780) a month. Litigants elsewhere will seize on this route, since it skips the tougher preconditions of full compulsory licensing under Sections 84 and 92. Drugmakers holding a patent on high-priced drugs will be pressured to respond with expanded patient-assistance programmes or licensing deals with generics majors like Cipla and Dr Reddy's to satisfy patient needs while avoiding government issuance of compulsory licences. [Ask Bilby about this prediction](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=A%20fresh%20public-interest%20litigation%20invoking%20Section%20100%20of%20the%20Patents%20Act%20against%20another%20high-cost%20patented%20drug%20will%20surface%20in%20a%20different%20Indian%20High%20Court%20within%20six%20months%2C%20with%20Merck%20%26%20Co%2C%20Novartis%2C%20Pfizer%20and%20Roche%20all%20facing%20renewed%20scrutiny%20of%20their%20India%20oncology%20and%20rare-disease%20portfolios.) ## Ask Bilby about it Carry the prediction into a question: what has changed since, who decides, and who is exposed. - [What has changed since it was made?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=What%20has%20changed%20since%20Bilby%20predicted%20this%3F%20A%20fresh%20public-interest%20litigation%20invoking%20Section%20100%20of%20the%20Patents%20Act%20against%20another%20high-cost%20patented%20drug%20will%20surface%20in%20a%20different%20Indian%20High%20Court%20within%20six%20months%2C%20with%20Merck%20%26%20Co%2C%20Novartis%2C%20Pfizer%20and%20Roche%20all%20facing%20renewed%20scrutiny%20of%20their%20India%20oncology%20and%20rare-disease%20portfolios.) - [Who decides whether it happens?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=Who%20decides%20whether%20this%20happens%3F%20A%20fresh%20public-interest%20litigation%20invoking%20Section%20100%20of%20the%20Patents%20Act%20against%20another%20high-cost%20patented%20drug%20will%20surface%20in%20a%20different%20Indian%20High%20Court%20within%20six%20months%2C%20with%20Merck%20%26%20Co%2C%20Novartis%2C%20Pfizer%20and%20Roche%20all%20facing%20renewed%20scrutiny%20of%20their%20India%20oncology%20and%20rare-disease%20portfolios.) - [Who gains and who loses if it does?](https://pulse.bilby.ai/?prompt=Who%20gains%20and%20who%20loses%20if%20this%20happens%3F%20A%20fresh%20public-interest%20litigation%20invoking%20Section%20100%20of%20the%20Patents%20Act%20against%20another%20high-cost%20patented%20drug%20will%20surface%20in%20a%20different%20Indian%20High%20Court%20within%20six%20months%2C%20with%20Merck%20%26%20Co%2C%20Novartis%2C%20Pfizer%20and%20Roche%20all%20facing%20renewed%20scrutiny%20of%20their%20India%20oncology%20and%20rare-disease%20portfolios.) ## More from India 18 predictions on India so far, newest first. - 29 Oct 2026 · [Reliance Industries’ diesel export margins will come under pressure in 2027, putting roughly US$6 billion in annual gross profit at risk.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/195/reliance-industries-diesel-export-margins-will-come-under-pressure-in-2027-putti) · Unresolved - 15 Oct 2026 · [India will avoid new US tariffs under the Graham Act when President Trump makes his decision on 18 October.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/167/india-will-avoid-new-us-tariffs-under-the-graham-act-when-president-trump-makes-) · True - 14 Oct 2026 · [India’s state-owned power producer NTPC will fail to secure binding green ammonia or methanol export contracts by the end of 2027, forgoing US$120 million a year in export premiums.](https://bilby.ai/predictions/p/163/india-s-state-owned-power-producer-ntpc-will-fail-to-secure-binding-green-ammoni) · Unresolved [All 18 from India](https://bilby.ai/predictions/log?tag=india) · Marked true or false when each resolves ## See what we’re seeing next. 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