[Ip-health] Swissinfo: Novartis wants drugs access overhaul

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/
Novartis_wants_drugs_access_overhaul.html?
siteSect=3D105&sid=3D7737177&cKey=3D1177107181000

April 20, 2007 - 9:46 PM

Novartis wants drugs access overhaul

A Novartis executive has called for the creation of a global taskforce
to fund and distribute new drugs for neglected diseases in developing
countries.

Paul Herrling, head of corporate research at the Swiss pharmaceutical
giant, told swissinfo the present system of supplying affordable
medicines to poor countries was problematic and unsustainable.

The supply of cut price or free medications is currently provided by
charitable programmes of pharmaceutical companies or via World Trade
Organization (WTO) rules allowing governments to override patents if
there is a strong public health case.

Novartis's current court battle over patent protection for its
leukaemia drug Gleevec in India is the latest in a line of
confrontations between companies, governments and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) on the issue.

Herrling believes it is time to set up an independent non-political
body of all interested parties to tackle the thorny issue of access to
medicine.

"This is now dependent on our goodwill, but governments and NGOs would
like to see something more sustainable than the goodwill of big pharma
companies," he told swissinfo.

"This is a much more constructive way to get everyone collaborating
towards a solution as opposed to the relatively simple war cry of
'shoot patents'".


Gleevec stumbling block



Herrling suggests that firms could apply for funds to develop drugs for
diseases such as malaria and grant licenses for their use in that
field, while still retaining the patent for other commercial uses.

The idea was recently presented to M=E9dicins Sans Fronti=E8res (MSF), but
the Geneva-based NGO insists that Novartis must first end its Gleevec
fight.

"We welcome Professor Herrling's suggestions, but Novartis needs to
demonstrate their goodwill by stopping their court case in India," MSF
spokesman Pere Pons told swissinfo.

"Access to medicine should be driven by the needs of the people and not
the needs of the market."

Gleevec has fallen foul of an Indian ruling that patents cannot be
applied to modifications of existing discoveries, an interpretation
that rides roughshod over the established incremental development from
molecule to useable medicine. It also protects the thriving Indian
generics industry that copies drugs at much cheaper prices.

Novartis says it is fighting to preserve innovation, while MSF has
accused the Basel-based firm of using patents to squeeze competitors to
inflate prices and profits.

Herrling said he could understand the suspicion of NGOs like MSF after
an ill-fated attempt by 39 pharmaceuticals, including Novartis, to
fight South African measures to reduce the price of certain drugs in
the country. They eventually withdrew their complaint in 2001.

"Horrible" governments

  "The industry has come quite a long way since then," he said.

"At that time pharmas were convinced that if they were not fighting for
their profits at the exclusion of everything else their shareholders
would sell their shares. But there has been a significant change of
public opinion about the problems of the developing world."

Herrling is convinced that some governments need to change the way they
do business with pharmaceuticals.

"Some governments are amazing to work with but others are just
horrible. The extreme is a health minister who said 'Why should I save
all these children if I have to feed them all later?'"

"We believe in innovative public-private partnerships. We hope that the
governments that work with us will build more successful countries and
that will set an example for the others."

But, above all, Herrling believes the emphasis should shift from rows
over patents to a more positive approach.

"My experience is that patents save lives because without patents no
one would have anything to copy because no one would invest in
innovative research any more," he said.

swissinfo, Matthew Allen

---------------------------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org