[Ip-health] Patent War: Will AIDS Cost You Dearer?

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1029053&CatID=2

Patent war: Will AIDS cost you dearer?

Vineeta Pandey
May 13, 2006
Diligent Media Corporation

NEW DELHI: Indian NGOs working on AIDS programmes have challenged
California-based pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences' product patent
application for HIV/AIDS medicines in India.

Two NGOs ---- Network for Positive People and Network for People Living
with HIV/AIDS --- have filed pre-grant opposition with patent offices in
Kolkata and Delhi asking the government to prevent Gilead Sciences from
patenting the antiretroviral drug Viread, available under the brand
names Tenofovir and Norvir (Retonavir), for pediatric use.

Gilead has filed a patent application for Viread (tenofovir disoproxil
fumarate) in India. Tenofovir is available in India as a generic drug
under the brand name Tenvir. It is manufactured by Cipla and Ranbaxy and
is used as a first line medicine for AIDS. While the quality of the drug
is the same as in the US, it is available in India at a much affordable
price. A strip of 30 tablets costs Rs 4000 at present.

If patented by Gilead making cheaper versions of the drug will become
illegal and Tenvir would have to be withdrawn. Since the drug is not
supplied through public health system, NGOs feel it will become
unaffordable for HIV/AIDS patients.

"The medicines are already expensive. If Gilead gets patent in India
then access to these medicines will be a huge problem," said K K Abraham
of Network for Positive People. The Pre-Grant Opposition is under
consideration of the Controller General of Patents in India.

Director General of National AIDS Control Organisation K Sujatha Rao
said that it is a serious issue and has be sorted out at the highest
level. "I am worried. It is a very depressing situation. Today, it is
Viread, tomorrow it will be drugs for diabetes and so on. We have to
protect our patients interest," he said.

Meanwhile, Gilead issued a statement on its website saying: "We disagree
with statements that Viread should not be patented; we believe that
Viread represents innovation and is patentable under Indian law. We will
use this patent responsibly, and will not block access to our medication
in India or in other resource-limited countries where the HIV epidemic
has hit the hardest."