[Ip-health] Brazil rejects Tenofovir patent

[Jay Purcell]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
MSF: "This is the first time that a patent related to an antiretroviral
(ARV) medicine has been rejected as a result of a pre-grant opposition in
Brazil."


   http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=3D28630EB3-15C5-=
F00A-251F391A2B46443A&component=3Dtoolkit.pressrelease&method=3Dfull_html



   *Gilead's Antiretroviral Patent Request Rejected by Brazil*
   [Sep 04, 2008]

      A patent request from the pharmaceutical company
Gilead<http://www.gilead.com/> for
its antiretroviral drug tenofovir was rejected by Brazil Wednesday,
Reuters<http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN033354602008=
0903>
reports.
After announcing the decision, a Ministry of
Health<http://portal.saude.gov.br/saude/>spokesperson
confirmed a statement from the Patent Office that the request was rejected
on the grounds that it "lacked technological inventiveness," according to
Reuters. The decision means that Brazil now could import less expensive,
generic versions of tenofovir because of World Trade
Organization<http://www.wto.org/> regulations
(Grudgings, Reuters, 9/3).

The health ministry in April issued a decree signaling that it might reject
Gilead's patent request. The decree declared that the drug is "in the publi=
c
interest," adding that patenting the drug in Brazil would generate
"expectations of monopoly rights with an impact on the price of the
product." According to the health ministry, tenofovir accounts for 10% of
the government's spending on its HIV/AIDS treatment program. The government
provides antiretrovirals at no cost to people living with HIV/AIDS in
Brazil. This year, 31,300 people in Brazil are expected to be treated with
tenofovir at a cost of $1,387 per person. The annual cost per person for th=
e
180,000 people included in Brazil's HIV/AIDS program is about $2,500 worth
of medicines each year (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report<http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3D1&DR=
_ID=3D51500>,
4/14).

According to Reuters, Medecins Sans Frontieres <http://www.msf.org/> in a
statement<http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=3D28630EB=
3-15C5-F00A-251F391A2B46443A&component=3Dtoolkit.pressrelease&method=3Dfull=
_html>
said
that HIV/AIDS drug access will increase in Brazil and across the developing
world because of the patent rejection. Tido von Schoen-Angerer of MSF's Acc=
ess
to Essential Medicines <http://www.accessmed-msf.org/> campaign said that
increased access to tenofovir is "absolutely crucial" and that Brazilian
production of antiretrovirals has helped to reduce costs in the past. He
added that MSF hopes "this will happen again." According to von
Schoen-Angerer, a World Health Organization <http://www.who.int/>-approved
Indian-made generic version of tenofovir costs $158 per person annually,
compared with the $1,378 Gilead charges in Brazil. Gilead did not comment
immediately on the decision (Reuters, 9/3).

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______
purcell@berkeley.edu
uc berkeley school of law



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__________________
purcell@berkeley.edu
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