Top Court in India Rejects Novartis Drug Patent India's Supreme Court rejected a Swiss drug maker's patent application for a major cancer drug Monday, "in a landmark ruling that allows cheap copies of important medicines to continue being distributed in much of the world," Gardiner Harris wrote in The New York Times. The ruling allows Indian makers of generic drugs to continue making "copycat versions of the Novartis drug Gleevec - also spelled Glivec in other markets, like Europe - which can have a seemingly miraculous effect on some forms of leukemia," Mr. Harris wrote. The ruling will help India maintain its role as the the "world's most important provider of cheap medicines," which is critical in the global fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases, he wrote.