Archbishop Desmond Tutu has signed the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) petition calling on Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to drop their legal challenge against the Indian government, a case that could have a dramatic effect on access to essential medicines across the globe, particularly the poorer sub-Saharan Africa.
By doing this, Archbishop Tutu joins over 300,000 people worldwide – including, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, and Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, the new head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – in calling upon the company to drop the case.
The Berne Declaration, Oxfam International and the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), emphasized that Novartis is challenging countries’ rights to have patent laws that put the interest of people first.
“The Doha Declaration tries to find a balance between intellectual property rights and public health,” said Ruth Dreifuss, who chaired the 2004-2006 WHO Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH).
“This balance can be achieved only if countries make use of the flexibilities contained in the TRIPS Agreement, and this is what the Indian law does.
By challenging it, Novartis is sacrificing public health objectives and weakening the whole system,” she adds. Many developing countries rely on affordable medicines produced in India, and such medicines constitute over half the AIDS drugs used in the developing world.
India has been able to produce affordable versions of medicines patented elsewhere because until 2005, the country did not grant pharmaceutical patents. Over 80 percent of the 80,000 patients in MSF’s AIDS treatment programmes receive Indian generics.
“We are increasingly seeing the tools we need to treat people being taken out of our hands,” said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. “We are unable to afford the new medicines we need and not enough is being developed for the diseases that mainly affect people in developing countries.”
Because of the global implications of Novartis’ legal action in India, Swiss organizations, led by the Berne Declaration, urged the company to drop its case in an open letter to Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella sent in October 2006.
The letter was endorsed by over two-dozen Swiss health NGOs including the Swiss Cancer League and Swiss AIDS Federation, as well as Swiss opinion makers, including Ruth Dreifuss.
“It is not acceptable that in order to sell its medicines at high price to a minority of wealthy patients in India and in other developing countries, Novartis is ready to worsen access to affordable essential and life-saving medicines for people in developing countries,” said Julien Reinhard, Health Campaign Director at the Berne Declaration. “This behaviour is not socially responsible. It's time for Novartis to act responsibly and drop its case in India.”
Novartis is challenging a specific provision in India’s patent law that lays out strict criteria for granting patents. If the provision were overturned, patents would be granted far more widely in India, heavily restricting the production of affordable medicines that has become crucial to the treatment of diseases across the developing world.
There are an estimated 9,000 patent applications waiting to be reviewed by Indian authorities of which most are believed to be modifications of old drugs. If India is made to change its law, many of these medicines could become patented, making them off-limits to the generic competition that has proven to bring prices down.
“Novartis claims it is simply trying to protect its intellectual property over a single drug. But the truth is this is a direct attack against India’s sovereign right to protect public health,” said Celine Charveriat, head of Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair Campaign. “Novartis should be showing leadership in finding new solutions in a changing market place, rather than defending their vested interests and threatening the generic medicines that millions of people depend on.”
By Henry Neondo at Africa Science News
By doing this, Archbishop Tutu joins over 300,000 people worldwide – including, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, and Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, the new head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – in calling upon the company to drop the case.
The Berne Declaration, Oxfam International and the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), emphasized that Novartis is challenging countries’ rights to have patent laws that put the interest of people first.
“The Doha Declaration tries to find a balance between intellectual property rights and public health,” said Ruth Dreifuss, who chaired the 2004-2006 WHO Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH).
“This balance can be achieved only if countries make use of the flexibilities contained in the TRIPS Agreement, and this is what the Indian law does.
By challenging it, Novartis is sacrificing public health objectives and weakening the whole system,” she adds. Many developing countries rely on affordable medicines produced in India, and such medicines constitute over half the AIDS drugs used in the developing world.
India has been able to produce affordable versions of medicines patented elsewhere because until 2005, the country did not grant pharmaceutical patents. Over 80 percent of the 80,000 patients in MSF’s AIDS treatment programmes receive Indian generics.
“We are increasingly seeing the tools we need to treat people being taken out of our hands,” said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. “We are unable to afford the new medicines we need and not enough is being developed for the diseases that mainly affect people in developing countries.”
Because of the global implications of Novartis’ legal action in India, Swiss organizations, led by the Berne Declaration, urged the company to drop its case in an open letter to Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella sent in October 2006.
The letter was endorsed by over two-dozen Swiss health NGOs including the Swiss Cancer League and Swiss AIDS Federation, as well as Swiss opinion makers, including Ruth Dreifuss.
“It is not acceptable that in order to sell its medicines at high price to a minority of wealthy patients in India and in other developing countries, Novartis is ready to worsen access to affordable essential and life-saving medicines for people in developing countries,” said Julien Reinhard, Health Campaign Director at the Berne Declaration. “This behaviour is not socially responsible. It's time for Novartis to act responsibly and drop its case in India.”
Novartis is challenging a specific provision in India’s patent law that lays out strict criteria for granting patents. If the provision were overturned, patents would be granted far more widely in India, heavily restricting the production of affordable medicines that has become crucial to the treatment of diseases across the developing world.
There are an estimated 9,000 patent applications waiting to be reviewed by Indian authorities of which most are believed to be modifications of old drugs. If India is made to change its law, many of these medicines could become patented, making them off-limits to the generic competition that has proven to bring prices down.
“Novartis claims it is simply trying to protect its intellectual property over a single drug. But the truth is this is a direct attack against India’s sovereign right to protect public health,” said Celine Charveriat, head of Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair Campaign. “Novartis should be showing leadership in finding new solutions in a changing market place, rather than defending their vested interests and threatening the generic medicines that millions of people depend on.”
By Henry Neondo at Africa Science News
1 comment:
Of course, most decent people would believe Dr.D. Tutu vs Dr.Daniel Vasella. Mind you dr. Vasella also has a very good, alright good reputaion. Was he not in attendance at the recent world famous Davos meeting in Switzerland. There only the goodest of the "good" are invited to try to influence the future of the World in positive and just manner. Dr. Vasella is a regular and not only because he lives in the cuntry and is a haed of Novartis.
By the way, a rumour has it that his meteoric rise along the Novartis food chaine was due to his marriage to the daughter of the last of the great CEOs and chairmans' at Sandoz which became a part of Novartis with Dan (can we call him Dan, please?) as the initial, new CEO and chairman. Kind of taking over from father-in-law. This is just a rumour we heard many moons ago.
Back to Davos; we who will never make it ther can only imagine what is going on there and the way it is done in this classy place. So just imagine a chance meeting between US ex pres Bill Clinton, the regular and Dan Vasella another regular who one is sure know each other well.
Imagine their chance meting in the luxury of the men's bathroom using the porcelan urinals during the coffee break of one of the many productive meetins the have there.
Bil; Hey, Dan.. too much coffee I guess, does it to me every time. How are things?
Dan; It's Ok Bill. You know the usual.. trying to get things done to keep lot of people happy.
Bill; Well not everyone is happy, I see you are after the whole Indian goverment. I tought that was a job for somene like me not a corporate head. What were you thinking going after those poor sick peole? I thought we the Davos boys were different.
Dan;Don't you worry Billy, I'll streighten the whole think out. Once we win in court we'll trough few pills their way for free as we usually do and the whole thing will die down soon. You know us, we always come up to the top. by the way how's that girlfreand of yours? Lafensky, Lufinsky, Dubinskey, what the hell her name was,? help me.
Bill: Nice to see you Dan I got to get back to my people. Make sure you look after those people for me.
Thanks, goodness for Davos people, what would we do without them?
Just imagine.
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