GSK draws flak for patent plea

Amrita Nair-Ghaswalla / TNN / Aug 9, 2006, 23:45 IST

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GSK is under fire for filing its patent application in India and Thailand for its combination AIDS drug.

MUMBAI: UK-based multinational GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is under fire for filing its patent application in India and Thailand for its combination AIDS drug. If it gets its patent, 5.3 million HIV/AIDS patients in the country may have to shell out up to Rs 24,300 as against Rs 900 for a course.
"GSK's patent application will do nothing to improve access to treatment," said David Wilson, medical coordinator for Mediciens sans Frontiers, charging that the firm was putting profit over people's lives.
GSK has filed patent applications in India and Thailand among other countries on Combivir, a fixed-dose combination of two essential AIDS drugs zidovudine and lamivudine.
The drug combination is one of the most commonly used for treatment of the disease. Says Loon Gangte of Delhi Network of People Living with AIDS: "The combination is important as it is the backbone of treatment for many people and is also the first line of treatment in India."

"It's not a matter of a multinational or a generic company providing the drug. It is a matter of peoples lives," Gangte added.
The Manipur Network and Indian Network of Positive People has filed their opposition to GSK patent. Public interest groups in India have joined the action and have been protesting in Bangalore in front of local GSK office against the patent application for Combivir.
International organisations in a written communique, said the application has endangered the availability of essential AIDS drug and asked GSK to withdraw it.

The Delhi Network has even lodged a legal objection to GSK's patent application on the grounds that it is not a new invention but simply the combination of two existing drugs. "Simply combining two medicines does not constitute an invention, and therefore does not deserve a patent," says Gangte.
The fight is not just against GSK. The Delhi Network has filed an opposition for eight HIV/AIDS drugs which multinationals including Gilead Sciences, Abott, GSK, Boreingher Ingelheim and Roche have filed patents for, with different combinations.
In India, many generic companies including Cipla, Aurobindo, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Hetro produce generic versions of the drug, which are used in the government AIDS treatment program and also exported to other developing countries.
Generic antiretroviral drugs are the basis of life-saving antiretroviraltherapy relied upon by more than 5.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS in India.

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