[Ip-health] Pfizer response to Natco CL request

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

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http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/03004838/Pfizer-to-launch-free-Sutent-a.htm=
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Posted: Thu, Apr 3 2008. 1:24 AM IST
Pfizer to launch free Sutent access programme in Nepal
C.H. Unnikrishnan

Pfizer will implement the free patient assistance programme by
partnering with two leading cancer hospitals in Nepal =97 BP Koirala
Memorial Cancer Hospital and Patan Academy of Health Sciences

The world=92s largest drug company by sales Pfizer Inc. is planning to
launch a free treatment programme in Nepal with its new cancer drug =97
Sutent.

The move may upset Indian generic drug maker Natco Pharma Ltd=92s
efforts to secure a compulsory licence for exporting copy-cat versions
of the drug. Compulsory licensing is when a government allows someone
else to produce a patented drug or process without the consent of the
patent owner. It is one of the flexibilities on patent protection
included in the World Trade Organization=92s agreement on intellectual
property =97the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
Agreement, or Trips.

Healthy plan? The Pfizer headquarters in New York. Its cancer drug,
Sutent, costs around Rs1.96 lakh for a 45-day treatment in India.

Pfizer, which launched this kidney cancer drug in India in January,
said in a release on Wednesday that it has established the Sutent
patient assistance programme in Nepal in partnership with the US-based
Axios Healthcare Development Inc., a non-profit corporation that
implements humanitarian projects in developing countries with a focus
on increasing access to drugs and quality health care.

Pfizer will implement the free patient assistance programme by
partnering with two leading cancer hospitals in Nepal=97BP Koirala
Memorial Cancer Hospital and Patan Academy of Health Sciences.

=93The Pfizer move will definitely have an impact on the ongoing trial
at the Indian patent controller=92s office on Natco=92s application,=94 sai=
d
a patent lawyer in Mumbai, requesting anonymity.

Natco had in January applied to the patent controller of India to
allow the company to manufacture and export sunitinib mesylate
(generic name of Sutent) to Nepal.
Pfizer was granted a patent for this drug in India in 2007, and it
launched the same in the local market in January. The drug costs
around Rs1.96 lakh for a 45-day treatment in India. While launching
the product, Pfizer had also initiated the same patient assistance
programme in the country but with a differential pricing scheme,
though the number of patients who have received the treatment under
the programme is not known.

=93Pfizer is committed to bringing meaningful improvement to the lives
of patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal tumour and advanced renal
cell cancer,=94 Robert Mallett, Pfizer=92s senior vice-president for
worldwide public affairs and policy, said in the release. =93Through
patient assistance programmes like this, and working closely with the
government and non-governmental organizations, we will continue to
improve the availability of innovative medicines to patients in need
in Nepal,=94 he said.

A person close to Natco said that Pfizer=92s free access programme is
good for the patients in Nepal, though such programmes cannot cover
the entire patient population in any country.

Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney at Knowledge Ecology International
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone: +1.202.332.2670, x18
Email: judit.rius@keionline.org