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NEWS September 03 2001
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| Brazil acts to break AIDS drug patent Brazil will soon be producing patent-breaching cheap generic AIDS drugs for its estimated 200,000 AIDS sufferers. The health minister last week ordered the public health laboratory to begin producing a generic version of Nelfinavir, a drug patented by Swiss firm Roche, which is used by around 25% of Brazilian AIDS patients. Breaking the patent will cut the cost of the drug by around 40%, saving the country as much as $35m a year. This is believed to be the first breach of a patent on an anti-AIDS drug, and represents an escalation in the developing world’s battle against high drug prices. Brazil had previously asked Roche to sell the drug more cheaply on humanitarian grounds, but Roche offered only a 13% price cut. Merck Sharp & Dohme had previously agreed to cut the cost of efavirenz, another drug in the anti-AIDS cocktail used in Brazil, by 64%. The move was made in response to the withdrawal of a case the US (backed by pharmceutical companies) was taking against Brazil in the WTO. The case was aimed at rescinding a Brazilian law that permits a local company to manufacture a product made by a foreign company, if that company fails to initiate production inside Brazil within three years. (see news update 6/7/01 http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/news/brazil_drugs_victory.html) Meanwhile in the States… Even the rich world is getting fed up with the profit-hungry antics of the drug multinatioanls, it seems. In the last few months, a group called the Prescription Access Litigation Project has brought lawsuits against eight drugs companies charging them with illegally colluding to keep cheaper generic drugs off the US market. Last week, the New York City Policemen's Benevolent Association (PBA) filed four similar suits of its own on behalf of its members. One case alleges that Pfizer arranged for Mylan Laboratories to sell a licensed version of its angina drug Procardia XL rather than manufacturing its own generic. Other similar cases relate to Zeneca (now AstraZeneca) and Barr colluding to keep cheaper versions of tamoxifen off the market and Schering-Plough illegally paying Upsher-Smith and American Home Product's ESI Lederle to delay introductions of generic potassium chloride supplements. The fourth case alleges that Bristol-Myers Squibb filed false patents on its anti-anxiety drug BuSpar (buspirone) to block generic competition. The drugs giants are also coming under increasing fire in the US over their intensive direct marketing to doctors, which is believed to distort prescribing policies and lead to expensive new drugs being prescribed when older, cheaper versions would be just as good, thereby increasing drug costs to consumers and ultimately increasing medical insurance premiums and costs of public healthcare. Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1505000/1505163.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,541806,00.html Reuters Health 21/8/01 |