New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- The Kerala high court on 28 September gave the Centre a legal route to intervene when patented life-saving medicines become unaffordable, holding that the government can invoke Section 100 of the Patents Act, 1970, to use a patented drug for public health purposes.

Mint explains how the ruling could help improve access to expensive remedies.

What was the ruling?

The case began in June 2022, when a breast cancer patient approached the Kerala high court seeking government intervention to make ribociclib, a patented Novartis AG drug costing around Rs.75,000 a month, more affordable.

The petitioner died in September 2022. However, the court continued the matter as a suo motu proceeding, treating it as a broader publ...