[Ip-health] New Indian patent law pushes up prices of anti-AIDS drugs

[Ram]

>From The Times of India

New patent law pushes up prices of anti-Aids drugs

Though the number of HIV cases has jumped by seven times in the state,
a majority of the infected individuals have no access to anti-Aids
drugs. The problem has become worse with the product patent regime
that came into effect from Jan. 1, 2005, increasing the prices of
drugs. Experts say an entire group of Aids drugs that used to be
produced by Indian manufacturers will now be unavailable due to the
patent law.

For HIV patients unresponsive to the currently available formulations,
access to the more expensive second-stage Aids drugs is critical.
These drugs are sure to become costlier under the product patent
regime, according to Dr Prakash Divan, head of the pharmacology
division of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology. With a few
multinational companies holding the patents, the new anti-Aids drugs
would cost much more than the initial combinations, he said.

According to Dr P V Appaji, executive director of the Pharmaceutical
Exports Council (Pharmexcil), anti-retroviral drugs which reached the
Indian market before 1995 will not be affected by the patent regime.
But a majority of the anti-Aids drugs that were launched by Indian
manufacturers since 1995 would be susceptible to the new patent laws,
he said.

In 1989, the cost of treatment for Aids was about Rs 31,000 per month,
but that decreased with the introduction of anti-Aids drugs by Indian
manufacturers. In 1993, a pack of ten 100 mg capsules of Zidovudine
used to cost about Rs 150. But anti-Aids drugs such as Lamivudine,
Nevrapine and other capsules that were introduced after 1998 are
likely to cost much higher because of the product patent regime.

Of the six million people who are in immediate need of treatment for
Aids in the world, about five lakh are in India. About 8,500 Aids
patients die everyday worldwide due to lack of access to treatment. In
AP, Aids cases reached 4,369 in 2003.






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