[Ip-health] MSF: US patent offices move to revoke patents on key HIV/AIDS drug could mean increased access in developing world

[Buddhima Lokuge]

 MSF: US patent office=E2=80=99s move to revoke patents on key HIV/AIDS dru=
g could=0D
mean increased access in developing world=0D
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In a move that could have major implications on access to a cornerstone=0D
HIV/AIDS medicine across the developing world, the U.S. Patent & Trademark=
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Office on January 23, 2008 revoked four key patents held by the=0D
pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences on the drug tenofovir disoproxil=0D
fumarate (TDF).=0D
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The public interest group Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), which=0D
challenged the patents in the US, submitted evidence that TDF was already=
=0D
a known substance at the time of Gilead=E2=80=99s application for the paten=
ts, and=0D
therefore a patent should not have been granted.  The evidence used in the=
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patent office=E2=80=99s ruling may have an impact on whether the drug will =
be=0D
granted patents in other countries, such as India and Brazil.=0D
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The fact that this patent was revoked in the US also shows that existing=0D
patents have been granted for drugs that have not met patentability=0D
standards, and can in fact be invalid.  It also shows the importance and=0D
effectiveness of interested parties opposing patents in the interest of=0D
public health.=0D
=0D
In India, the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS opposed=0D
Gilead=E2=80=99s patent application in May 2006 on similar grounds to PUBPA=
T=E2=80=99s=0D
challenge in the US. The evidence on which the US based its decision could=
=0D
therefore lead to the Indian patent office rejecting the patent=0D
application. Similarly, in Brazil, a patent opposition filed by HIV/AIDS=0D
groups and a government pharmaceutical laboratory could also mean a patent=
=0D
might not be granted for TDF in Brazil.=0D
=0D
If a patent is not granted in these countries, generic manufacturers could=
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freely manufacture and export generic versions of TDF without=0D
restrictions, leading to greater competition and therefore lower prices.=0D
=0D
In addition, should Gilead=E2=80=99s patent application be rejected in Indi=
a, the=0D
voluntary license agreements that the company has already signed with most=
=0D
Indian generic manufacturers would be put into question.=0D
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Buddhima Lokuge=0D
Doctors Without Borders/M=C3=A9decins Sans Fronti=C3=A8res (MSF)=0D
New York, NY=0D
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