[Ip-health] Philippine Daily Inquirer: Government sues US firm over patent war

[Mike Palmedo]

http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=3D1&story_id=3D72650

Government sues US firm over patent war

Philippine Daily Inquirer
April 16, 2006

Editor's Note: Published on page A19 of the April 16, 2006 issue of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY=97The government has filed a P1.5-million counter suit against
an American pharmaceutical firm because of its attempt to stop the
government's importation of cheap medicine.

Former Bulacan Gov. Roberto Pagdanganan, president of the state-owned
Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), filed the suit against
Pfizer Inc. before a Makati Regional Trial Court on Tuesday, a day after
he testified in a patent suit filed against him by the firm.

Pfizer accused the government in March of infringing on its patent for
the antihypertension drug Norvasc, when the PITC submitted Indian import
Amlogard to the Bureau of Food and Drugs for processing.

The firm said Amlogard had the same generic qualities as their product,
which is owned by its branch in the United Kingdom, and importing it
would violate its patent that will expire in June 2007.

But Pagdanganan told the Inquirer that the impending termination of
Pfizer's patent was what prompted the government to begin processing an
alternative and cheaper generic drug this early.

"It takes 18 months on the average for the BFAD to finish testing and to
clear products, so [the PITC] proceeded with the understanding that we
would only import Amlogard after June 2007," said Noli Balatero, PITC
Cordillera coordinator.

"Imagine the fiscal advantage [the commercial drug firms] have if we
begin processing cheaper Amlogard for 18 months after 2007? We are
competing with a P100-billion drug industry [in the Philippines]," he said.

"[The PITC] is not unmindful of the rights conferred by law on the
holder of a valid and subsisting patent. As a matter of policy, all
medicines and drugs actually imported by the PITC for distribution in
the Philippines are not covered by any existing patent," Pagdanganan
said in an affidavit.

Pagdanganan said he issued Leticia Gutierrez, BFAD director, a Jan. 26
guarantee that the PITC would not "import, distribute or sell Norvasc"
until Pfizer's patent expires.

"At any rate, Pfizer UK has no right to prevent the PITC from proceeding
with the application... [which is] an act done privately and... [it does
not] significantly prejudice [its] economic interests," he said.

Pagdanganan said the government suit protected its Botika ng Bayan
outlets, which had also been threatened with civil cases should they
sell Amlogard.

Local members of the Drugstores Association of the Philippines on
Wednesday confirmed that they had received letters from drug firms that
discouraged them from selling government imports. Vincent Cabreza, PDI
Northern Luzon Bureau.