[Ip-health] Reuters: Swiss drug case threatens developing world: MSF

[Sheila.SHETTLE@geneva.msf.org]

Reuters
Swiss drug case threatens developing world: MSF


Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:53 PM ET



By Jeremy Clarke


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people being treated for AIDS will
suffer if Swiss drugmaker Novartis succeeds in changing India's patent law,
humanitarian agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday.


"If Novartis gets through with its case our lives are at risk," Monique
Wanjala, a woman who has been living with HIV for 13 years, told a news
conference in Nairobi.


"We want this case dropped," she said. "If we die because affordable
generic drugs aren't available, where will they sell the drug? If profits
are going to be put before peoples' lives then we have a serious problem."


Novartis is challenging a specific provision of India's patent law that, if
overturned, would see patents being granted far more widely, heavily
restricting the availability of affordable generic medicines, MSF said in a
statement.


"If they hit India it basically cuts off the lifeline for generic
medicines. They're going for the jugular," MSF spokesman James Lorenz said.


India's generic drugs form the backbone of MSF's AIDS programs, in which
80,000 people in 30 countries, including African countries, receive
treatment.


"We are reaching a quarter of the people who need antiretroviral treatment
in sub-Saharan Africa," Dr Ivy Mwangi of MSF said. "Rapid scale-up in
treatment is only possible with the availability and affordability of
generic drugs, most of which are produced in India."


In 2000, antiretroviral (ARV) treatment cost was estimated at $10,000 per
patient annually. But thanks to the availability of generic drugs produced
mainly in India, the cost came down to about $70 per patient per year, she
said.


India has long been an important source of affordable generic medicines as
it did not grant pharmaceutical patents until 2005, when it was forced to
comply with World Trade Organization rules on intellectual property.


Novartis argues that the principle of intellectual property protection must
be safeguarded if innovation is to flourish.

MSF said spurious patents on "new" drugs of insignificant difference --
like a drug becoming a capsule rather than a pill and no longer requiring
refrigeration -- were threatening lives in the developing world.



+++++++++++++++++++++
Sheila Shettle
Senior Communications Officer
M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Rue de Lausanne 78
1211 Geneva, Switzerland
+ 41.22.849.8403
+ 41.79.293.0270 (m.)
www.accessmed-msf.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++
SIGN MSF'S 'DROP THE CASE' PETITION

Millions of people around the world today rely on affordable medicines
produced in India.  Pharmaceutical company Novartis is taking the Indian
government to court to force a change in the country's patent law.  If
Novartis wins, a major source of affordable medicines for millions of
people across the globe could dry up.

MSF is urging Novartis to DROP THE CASE.

Find out more and sign up to our petition:
http://www.msf.org/petition_india/international.html