[Ip-health] More from Frontline

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http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20070223003813300.htm

 Uncertain future




 AMRITA THAKKAR, 16, is a student from a poor family living in a far off su=
burb of Mumbai. She has chronic myloid leukaemia, which is a type of blood =
cancer. In order to survive , she needs a specific drug that locks the cell=
 mechanism responsible for creating the cancer. Her mother worked overtime =
to sustain the family and cover Amrita's treatment expenses. Her 17-year-ol=
d brother took up a part-time job while in college to help. But after a cou=
ple of months of treatment, they could not afford the drug. After Amrita ha=
d gone without treatment for six months, her mother approached the Cancer P=
atients Aid Association (CPAA), which funded her treatment for five years.


 The CPAA is a non-governmental organisation that provides for the total ma=
nagement of cancer patients. It could afford to treat her only because it b=
ought cheap drugs made by the generic drug industry. Treatment costs were r=
oughly Rs.10,000 a month. When many generic drug companies were forced to w=
ithdraw their drugs from the market in November 2003, the regular supply of=
 this medicine dried up. Novartis was given exclusive rights to market and =
sell Gleevec in India. At Rs.1,25,000 a month, it was not an option for Amr=
ita.


 The CPAA had to suspend support to her and 300 other patients being treate=
d with generic drugs. Many other cancer organisations have done the same th=
ing. Now, her fate and that of tens of thousands of others hang on the ruli=
ng of a Bench of the Madras High Court.









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