Campaigners in India take on 'Big Pharma'
Indian civil society have taken to the streets to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS can access life-prolonging treatment. Campaigners have been protesting in New Delhi to oppose one pharmaceutical company´s attempt to put profit before public health. TAKE ACTION NOW and email the Indian Government to tell India NOT to grant this life threatening patent.
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Gilead Sciences, a US based pharmaceutical company have applied to patent the key AIDS drug, tenofovir, in India. If granted Gilead would have a monopoly over the production and supply of this drug in India for up to 20 years, keeping drugs way out of reach of millions in urgent need of treatment in India and the wider world.
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Campaigners in India, supported by Medicins Sans Frontieres, an independent humanitarian medical agency, are opposing the patent application on the grounds that it consists of a previously known compound and should not be considered a new invention according to Indian Patents law. Section 25 of the Indian Patents Act allows anyone to bring information that may prove a patent application invalid to the attention of the patent controller; this process is called ‘pre-grant opposition’.
Generic copies of tenofovir are needed to drive drug prices down and increase the accessibility of treatment in India and other developing countries. Historically, competition from generic drugs has dramatically reduced the cost of anti-retroviral drugs (used to treat HIV) for developing countries by over 80%. However, newer, more effective drugs such as tenofovir are still priced way out of reach of millions of the poorest people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.
“For many of us living with HIV/AIDS, newer drugs like tenofovir offer new hope of continuing treatment. With patents interfering with our lives we have no choice but to oppose them” Loon Gangte, the Dehli Network of Positive People
On top of the need for tenovofir domestically, India is a major generic drug producing country with the potential to supply drugs to poorer countries in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa who do not have the capacity to manufacture such essential drugs locally.
Despite Gilead’s promise to offer tenofovir at a discount to 97 developing countries and a statement from the World Health Organisation recognising the importance of the drug for resource-poor settings, Gilead are failing to make the drug available in poorer countries. Out of 4,000 patients receiving HIV treatment at a project in Khayelitsha, South Africa, only 40 are receiving Tenfovir.
“We have all been waiting impatiently to get tenofovir as a generic from India. Our project is a microcosm for what is to come elsewhere, and it is clear the world desperately needs more sources of this essential drug.” Dr Eric Goemaere, MSF South Africa
Granting a patent on tenofovir to Gilead will stop generic production of the essential drug until 2018 and seriously jeopardises the UN’s target of achieving universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010.
Now that the pre-grant opposition has been filed, Indian civil society need to know that they can count on the support of AIDS campaigners worldwide. The Indian Government needs to feel pressure from all corners of the globe.
Take Action NOW
Email the Indian Government and tell them that India should NOT grant this life threatening patent. We have suggested some text but it would more effective to write your own personalised message.