Category Archives: TRIPS

It’s a relief for the HIV-infected

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Deccan Herald » Edit Page » Detailed Story
IN PERSPECTIVE
By Gopal Dabade
Deccan Herald

If patents are granted to a company, the price of the drug would be beyond the reach of the masses.

Just a few days back several groups of individuals, known popularly by their acronyms as INP+ and PWN, which stand for Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS and the Positive Women’s Network, working and campaigning for the rights of those having HIV/AIDS (most of them need medicines just for their just survival) celebrated it. Not many know and appreciate this victory. It was because Boehringer Ingelheim, the Germany based giant — a profit making drug manufacturing company — had its patent application rejected by the Indian Patent Office at Delhi, for a drug by name Nevirapine.

Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies operating globally in 47 countries. In 2007, the company posted net sales of 10.9 billion euro, thus proving to be among the most profitable and also a powerful drug company in the world.

The drug nevirapine sold by the company under the trade name Viramune is used by AIDS patients. It is specially useful when the pregnant mother is HIV positive, as it needs to be either administered to her just before the baby is born or given to the baby soon after birth as it prevents the new born getting HIV.

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Cancer drug patent case takes new turn

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Times of India, June 19, 2007
The much-awaited appeal proceedings in a cancer drug patent case could not begin on Monday as Swiss major Novartis AG, turning the tables on the government, raised a conflict-of-interest objection to the composition of the two-member bench of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB).

How can an officer who swore an affidavit on behalf of the government turn into a judge in the same matter?

Novartis objected to S Chadrasekharan, former controller general of the Indian Patent Office, being the technical member on the bench that will decide its appeal against a decision taken last year by his then subordinate, rejecting its patent application for cancer drug Glivec. Continue reading →

Novartis may suffer jolt in Glivec case

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Financial Express, June 20, 2007
The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), which has been formed to give a verdict on various patent cases across the country, may reject Novartis objection on the presence of S Chandrasekharan, the former patent controller, on IPAB.

Novartis had objected to Chandrasekharans presence on the board saying he was responsible for Glivec being denied product patent in 2006, when he was the controller general of patents.Experts close to the development say that IPAB will consider the fact that Chandrasekharan was actually not responsible for the decision on Glivecs patent application. IPAB will consider Novartis objection on July 2. Continue reading →

Patent act of India faces challenge

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In a rather predictable move, Novartis, the swiss multinational company which holds patent for a many medicines used for treating camcer, leukemia, malaria and many others including the the anti retro-viral AIDS medicine has challenged the contentious Section 3(d) introduced via the 2005 Amendments to India’s Patent Act.

This unique section which has been specifically been introduced into the Indian Patent Acrt provides a part that the mere discovery of a new form of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance is not patentable. While this clause has no precedent in any other patent laws in the world it was specifically drafted so as not to misuse the rediscovery of an already known item and patent it. The section then states (via an explanation to the section) that salts, esters, esthers, polymorphs, metabolites etc shall be considered as the same substance, unless they differ significantly in properties with regard to efficacy. Continue reading →