[Ip-health] Marketplace: Protests target drug company's patent fight

[Sheila.SHETTLE@geneva.msf.org]

Marketplace=0D
=0D
Protests target drug company's patent fight=0D
=0D
=0D
Listen to this story=0D
=0D
=0D
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/=0D
=0D
=0D
AIDS activists took to the streets of Washington, D.C., and New Delhi,=0D
India today, protesting an attempt by Novartis to extend the patent=0D
protection for a new leukemia drug it makes. Shia Levitt reports.=0D
=0D
=0D
TEXT OF STORY=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
      PROTESTORS: Novartis's greed kills people in need! Drop the case now!=
=0D
=0D
KAI RYSSDAL: That was the scene in Washington today outside the offices of=
=0D
the Swiss drug maker Novartis.=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
Hundreds of AIDS activists took to the streets of New Delhi, India, as=0D
well. They're protesting a court challenge the company filed there today.=
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
Novartis is looking for patent protection for a new version of a leukemia=
=0D
drug it makes. India's standards for what constitutes a new drug are=0D
stricter than in most other countries. It's also got a bigger generic drug=
=0D
industry than most other countries do.=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
>From New Delhi, Shia Levitt reports.=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
SHIA LEVITT: India's controversial patent law says drug companies can't=0D
patent an already-existing substance simply by making a new form of the=0D
drug. Say, turning a solid into a liquid, or by finding a new use for it.=
=0D
Say, discovering that a cancer drug can also be used to fight HIV.=0D
=0D
Companies have to develop a true innovation with clinically-improved=0D
results in order to earn a new patent in India.=0D
=0D
      BRYAN LIANG: That's the idea. However, that conception is contrary to=
=0D
      most intellectual property regimes around the world. Different forms=
=0D
      actually do get patented in the E.U., in the United States, in=0D
      Australia and so forth.=0D
=0D
Bryan Liang from the California Western School of Law advises drug=0D
companies on competition, pricing and access. He agrees with many=0D
pharmaceutical companies that these rules violate international trade law.=
=0D
=0D
But patient advocates like Chan Park see it differently. He's with the=0D
Lawyer's Collective HIV/AIDS Unit in Delhi, India.=0D
=0D
      CHAN PARK: It's a unique provision in Indian patent law, and it was=
=0D
      designed to prevent a practice called "evergreening," which=0D
      pharmaceutical companies engage in all too often. Which concerns=0D
      patenting trivial improvements to already-existing drugs to=0D
      artificially extend the 20-year monopoly beyond the 20 years already=
=0D
      granted to it.=0D
=0D
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is behind the court challenge of=0D
India's patent law.=0D
=0D
The company says it uses profits from its patented drugs to fund the=0D
research and development of new medicines, and to give free or reduced-cost=
=0D
drugs to millions of people in developing countries.=0D
=0D
And health policy expert Bryan Liang says that's more helpful to the=0D
world's poor than low-cost generics.=0D
=0D
      LIANG: Even generic prices do not create access to many of these=0D
      particular drugs for the people who need them the most, people in=0D
      Africa, Southeast Asia and India themselves. When you're talking=0D
      about people accessing the drug, you really have to give it at=0D
      virtually no cost. Even a generic company that claims that it will be=
=0D
      one-tenth the price of Novartis' price, that's still not low enough.=
=0D
=0D
Still, a lot of people do depend on generics.=0D
=0D
Activist Loon Gangte runs a group for HIV-positive people in Delhi.=0D
=0D
      LOON GANGTE: My life is going to be at risk.=0D
=0D
He says the Novartis court challenge could have a devastating impact on=0D
millions of lives, including his own. He now pays 800 rupees =E2=80=94 abou=
t $18=0D
per month =E2=80=94 for generic HIV drugs. Brand name therapies would cost =
him=0D
about eight times that price, far beyond his reach.=0D
=0D
The aid agency Doctors Without Borders says generics, many of them produced=
=0D
by Indian companies, have been crucial to the fight against AIDS in the=0D
poorest countries. Generic competition has brought prices down and allowed=
=0D
aid agencies and government programs to treat more people for a host of=0D
other diseases.=0D
=0D
If the Indian law is overturned, Chan Park says there will be a huge ripple=
=0D
effect.=0D
=0D
      PARK: Whether it be mental health or diabetes or Malaria or=0D
      tuberculosis, Novartis's challenge would threaten the ability of=0D
      Indian generic pharmaceutical companies to produce affordable=0D
      versions for much of the developing world.=0D
=0D
Decisions on hundreds, maybe thousands of drug patent applications in India=
=0D
now rest on the outcome of this case. And the court's decision could well=
=0D
reshape how countries comply with international trade law.=0D
=0D
In Delhi, India, I'm Shia Levitt for Marketplace.=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
=0D
+++++++++++++++++++++=0D
Sheila Shettle=0D
Senior Communications Officer=0D
M=C3=A9decins Sans Fronti=C3=A8res=0D
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines=0D
Rue de Lausanne 78=0D
1211 Geneva, Switzerland=0D
+ 41.22.849.8403=0D
+ 41.79.293.0270 (m.)=0D
www.accessmed-msf.org=0D
+++++++++++++++++++++++=0D
SIGN MSF'S 'DROP THE CASE' PETITION=0D
=0D
Millions of people around the world today rely on affordable medicines=0D
produced in India.  Pharmaceutical company Novartis is taking the Indian=0D
government to court to force a change in the country's patent law.  If=0D
Novartis wins, a major source of affordable medicines for millions of=0D
people across the globe could dry up.=0D
=0D
MSF is urging Novartis to DROP THE CASE.=0D
=0D
Find out more and sign up to our petition:=0D
http://www.msf.org/petition_india/international.html=0D
=0D
=0D