She died while the petition was pending.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of a matter concerning access to life-saving medicines and timely judicial intervention in issues related to the right to life.
The case pertains to a woman from Kerala who had approached the High Court challenging the high cost of medicines for breast cancer treatment. She died while the petition was pending.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, noted that the issue of affordability of patented cancer drugs was under consideration before the Kerala High Court. The apex court issued notice in the matter and asked the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court to ensure expeditious disposal of the case.
The court was informed that the petitioner, who had filed the plea in 2022 from Ernakulam, had passed away. Following her death, the High Court continued the proceedings suo motu in view of the larger public interest and retitled the case as “In Re Exorbitant Pricing of Life Saving Patented Medicines”.
