ARVs Patent war- India V's Novartis

[siongi]

I was going through one of today's dailies and came across this story which i thought we could share.

India's ability to continue making cheap generic ARVs drugs could come to an end if an appeal filed by Novartis in an Indian court sails through today.India manufactures cheap ARVs and many people including myself benefit from them.

Novartis is challenging the legality of section 3(d) of the Indian patent Act, which allows the country to decline granting patents to drugs considered not to be new innovations, combination drugs or slightly improved drug formulations.

The section says ' The mere discovery of a new form of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of the substance;or the mere discovery of a new property or new use of a known process , machine or apparatus- unless such process results in an new product or employs at least one reactant, then it is not patentable'

The section was added to the patent laws to enable India continue producing affordable drugs after the country was required to review its pharmaceutical patents in line with WTO agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights.

Norvatis argues these provisions violate WTO rules and should be declared unconstitutional.

The activists say the Doha declaration gives WTO members the right to protect public health and in particular to promote access to medicine for all.

[northernguy]

There was avery interesting article this weekend on drug patent expiries, in this case not an HIV drug, but Plavix and Lipitor.  It got me wondering, are any current HIV med patents due to expire soon? 

If you're interested in the article its at:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=88dd4cbf-f2cd-4df0-9ab1-76cc87d4e495

[MitchMiller]

Here is a petition you can sign to encourage Novartis to drop the lawsuit.  Funny that Novartis is bringing this suit because they are embroiled in a legal battle to bring generic HGH to market.  The 4 or 5 suppliers of HGH have taken them to court to block it.

http://www.msf.org/petition_india/usa.html

[siongi]

Thanks Mitchmiller for the form.I have promptly signed the petition.And Northern Guy, i have to check whether the expiries includes those of ARVs. 

[trellium]

Here's one listing background information on 14 HIV drugs but it needs updating.... (last updated June 8, 2000)

http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/aids/druginfo.html


You can also search the FDA's online Orange Book at http://www.fda.gov/cder/ob/default.htm for patent rights & expiration dates