PLHA files opposition against Combivir patent application

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INDIAN GROUPS FILE FIRST OPPOSITION AGAINST PATENT APPLICATION FOR AIDS DRUG.

Patents in India Endanger Global Availability of Affordable Medicines

Imphal, Thursday, March 30, 2006 - Today, the Indian Network of People Living

with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+), represented

by the Lawyers' Collective HIV/AIDS Unit officially submitted their opposition

to a patent application filed in the Kolkata patent office by GlaxoKline

(GSK) for Combivir, a fixed-dose combination of two essential AIDS drugs

zidovudine/lamivudine. The opposition is based on technical and health grounds.

" We are objecting to the patenting of Combivir because it is not a new invention

but simply the combination of two existing drugs. More

importantly, the granting of such a patent risks increasing the cost of

anti-retroviral treatment for many people living with HIV/AIDS thereby further

increasing the burden on developing countries already struggling to treat

patients, " said K.K. Abraham, President of INP+.

Combivir is a widely used fixed dose combination and is used extensively in

projects run by international aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

Almost all the Combivir used by MSF is generic. India, Burkina Faso, Mongolia,

Central African Republic, Malawi, Peru, the Republic of Kyrgizstan, Cambodia,

Ukraine and Swaziland are other countries also identified by the Global Fund as

using generic Combivir.

Patents create monopolies on drug manufacture and prevent the production of such

affordable generic alternatives. The availability of affordable quality generic

versions of Combivir and other anti-retroviral medicines has allowed developing

country governments to put more people on treatment and thus extend their lives.

In India alone there are 5.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS many of whom

receive generic drugs under the national HIV/AIDS treatment program.

" Decisions made by Indian patent offices are a question of life or death for

people living with HIV/AIDS who rely on the availability of affordable AIDS

drugs and other essential medicines made by Indian generic manufacturers, "

explains Anand Grover, Director of Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit.

Last year, India changed its patent law to comply with the World Trade

Organization's TRIPS Agreement that governs trade agreements and intellectual

property rights. Three weeks ago, India granted its first ever patent on a drug

to a hepatitis C treatment produced by Roche. Public interest groups are deeply

concerned this will set a precedent leading to the patenting of other essential

medicines including anti-retrovirals.

" Besides Combivir there are other patent applications of essential medicines

waiting to be approved or rejected, including other anti-retrovirals and drugs

for treating mental illness, tuberculosis and opportunisticstic infections, "

said Tahir Amin, an intellectual property lawyer with the Bangalore based

Alternative Law Forum.

However, the new Indian Patent law allows oppositions to a patent

application before it is granted. Indian cancer patients and generic drug

manufacturers recently opposed a Novartis patent application for Gleevec, an

anti-cancer drug, on the grounds that the application claimed a new form of an

old drug. The patent was subsequently rejected by the patent office.

Petitioners are now demanding that the Combivir patent application be

rejected on similar grounds.

THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW

Loon Gangte - Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+)

Anand Grover and Priti Radhakrishnan - Lawyers' Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

Tahir Amin - Alternative Law Forum

Ratan Singh - Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+)

Leena Menghaney - Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, MSF

For information or interviews please contact Petrana Ford 0986888410/

09811365412

Manoj Pardesi

Global Advisor - We Care

Coordinator - Asia Pacific PLWHA Resource Center (APPRC)

J- 50 B.K. Dutt Colony Jorbagh Lane

New Delhi-110003

Ph: +91 11 24652297 or 98

Fax: +91 11 24652296

E-mail: <manoj.pardesi@...>