[Ip-health] Drug giants 'swindle NHS by blocking cheap medicines' extending patents

[Ira Glazer]

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/dr=
ug-giants-swindle-nhs-by-blocking-cheap-medicines-extending-patents-793129.=
html?service=3DPrint

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Saturday, 8 March 2008

//Britain's research-based pharmaceutical industry has been accused of
using devious tactics to extend the life of drug patents, costing the
NHS millions of pounds.

Manufacturers of generic medicines =96 cheap copies of brand-name drugs =96
hit out at the tactics adopted by major pharmaceutical companies of
"evergreening" products to maintain their monopoly on the market after a
patent expires.

The allegations were made as the makers of an indigestion remedy,
Gaviscon, launched an internal investigation after being accused of
cheating the NHS.

Internal documents obtained by the BBC's Newsnight programme allegedly
showed that executives at Reckitt Benckiser, the manufacturer of
Gaviscon, schemed to create obstacles to prevent cheap generic versions.
Generic copies of Gaviscon could have saved the NHS =A340m since 1999,
Newsnight claimed.

Warwick Smith, director of the British Generic Manufacturers Association
(BGMA), said: "The sort of evergreening alleged by Newsnight can cost
the NHS tens of millions of pounds with no patient benefit. New drugs
get a long period of monopoly in which to make a return on their
investment in research. Delaying generic competition weakens the NHS,
costs the taxpayer and undermines patient care."

Reckitt Benckiser said in a statement: "We are shocked by the
allegations ... and by the inappropriate sentiment expressed in some of
the internal correspondence of 2003. Reckitt Benckiser is a responsible
company and we have therefore instigated an immediate internal
investigation and will take action. However, we do not accept much of
what has been alleged."

In evidence to the Commons Health Select Committee in 2004, the BGMA
cited five drugs which their manufacturers had tried to "evergreen"
before their patents expired. In one case, the manufacturer of the blood
pressure drug Ramipril attempted to switch it from capsule to tablet
form three months before its patent expired in 2004. Computers used by
GPs listed tablets, scuppering attempts by generic manufacturers who
were geared up to produce capsules.

The BGMA said that had action not been taken, the delay in introducing a
generic version could have cost the NHS =A370m.

In its report, the select committee called for a "systematic review of
so-called evergreening and other practices that impede the entry of
generic drugs on to the market".