PHA-Exchange> Nearly a Quarter of a Million people Urge Novartis to Drop its Court Case in India

Mon Jan 29 06:26:01 PST 2007

Nearly a Quarter of a Million people Urge Novartis to Drop its Court Case
in India

Company would effectively be shutting down the “pharmacy of the developing
                                  world”

New Delhi/Geneva, 29 January 2007 – As pharmaceutical company Novartis
proceeds with its legal challenge against the Indian government in a court
hearing in Chennai today, nearly a quarter of a million people from over
150 countries have expressed their concern about the negative impact the
company’s actions could have on access to medicines in developing
countries. The Indian Network for People with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the People’s
Health Movement, the Centre for Trade and Development (Centad), together
with the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF), called on the company again today to immediately cease
its legal action in India.

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.

“Novartis is trying to shut down the pharmacy of the developing world,”
said Dr. Unni Karunakara, Medical Director of MSF’s Campaign for Access to
Essential Medicines, at a press briefing in New Delhi.  “Indian drugs
account for at least a quarter of all medicines we buy, and form the
backbone of our AIDS programmes, in which 80,000 people in over 30
countries receive treatment. Over 80% of the medicines we use to treat AIDS
come from India. We cannot stand by and let Novartis turn off the tap.”

Novartis is challenging a specific provision in India’s patent law that
restricts patenting of medicines to innovations only.  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.

“Here in India, the People’s Health Movement fought hard to make sure our
government implemented a law that put people’s health before patents and
profits,” said Dr. Amit Sengupta   “But now, Novartis is trying to force a
change in our patent law, which could deprive people suffering from
life-threatening diseases and conditions.”

Rules of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) obliged India to begin reviewing
pharmaceutical patents in 2005.  The TRIPS agreement, however, includes
pro-public health safeguards that countries can implement, and India has
merely  included some of these in its patent law. The Doha Declaration on
TRIPS and Public Health, signed by governments in 2001, reinforced the
right of countries to use these safeguards.

“The TRIPS Agreement already makes it difficult for India to produce the
affordable drugs that people need,” said Gopakumar of Centad.  “By
challenging the pro-public health safeguards in the Indian law, Novartis is
going even further and is trying to undo the Doha Declaration, restricting
access to medicines.”

One provision of the Indian law states that any interested party can oppose
a patent before it is granted in a “pre-grant opposition” process.  Such
oppositions have been filed against numerous patent applications on
essential medicines that do not warrant patents under Indian law.

“We have opposed patent applications for crucial AIDS drugs that we need to
be able to access at affordable prices,” said Elango Ramchandar, President
of INP+.  “Our survival depends greatly on winning these patent
oppositions. We need everyone, everywhere to join us in our effort to get
Novartis to back off here in India.”

The international petition urging Novartis to drop the case is ongoing. To
sign the petition and for more information, visit: www.msf.org.

Contact:

Sheila Shettle, MSF:  + 91.98.10.34.46.79
Leena Menghaney, MSF: +91.98.11.36.54.12

NGO STATEMENT ON NOVARTIS CHALLENGE TO INDIAN PATENTS ACT

New Delhi/Geneva – 29 January 2007
A legal challenge brought by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis against
the Government of India will be heard in the Chennai High Court today.

Novartis is seeking to overturn India’s refusal to grant a patent on the
cancer drug the company markets as Gleevec/Glivec, and is also challenging
the provision in the Indian Patents Act of 2005 which formed the basis for
rejecting the Novartis patent.

When India amended its law in 2005 to implement the rules set by the World
Trade Organization (WTO) governing pharmaceutical patents, the country
included a provision that prevents companies from patenting small changes
of existing drugs.  This was done with respect to the WTO Doha Declaration
on TRIPS and Public Health, in an attempt to secure access to affordable
medicines.  It is this provision that Novartis is trying to kill in the
courts.

The stakes of the case reach far beyond India, and are global. Today,
Indian generic manufacturers supply over 50% of all antiretroviral drugs
given to patients in the developing world.  But if Novartis wins and
succeeds in getting the provision of the Indian law changed to resemble
patent laws in wealthy countries, patents may be granted in India far more
broadly.

Over 6,000 drug patents including for AIDS drugs are awaiting examination
by the Indian patent offices. Whether patents on these medicines are
granted may depend on the outcome of this case.  If Novartis prevails,
India will cease to be the pharmacy of the developing world, and access to
medicines will be further threatened.

We urge Novartis to immediately cease its legal action in India.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
OXFAM
Knowledge Ecology International
Health Action International
Third World Network
Delhi Network of Positive People, India
Centre for Trade and Development, India
Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, India
Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Thailand
Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor, Brazil
Associação Brasileira Interdisciplinar de Aids, Brazil
Grupo de Trabalho da REPRIB sobre Propriedade Intelectual (GTPI), Brazil
Berne Declaration, Switzerland

Ninety-one organisations and personalities from around the world also made
a call to Novartis to drop the case in an open letter in October 2006 to
Daniel Vasella, Chairman and CEO of Novartis.  The letter is available at:
http://www.evb.ch/en/p25011413.html

-- 
Wim De Ceukelaire, coodinator of global partnerships
wim.deceukelaire at intal.be | tel.: +32 2 209 23 55 | fax: +32 2 209 23 51
| mobile: +32 484 119231
intal – http://www.intal.be | http://www.g3w.be – Globalize Solidarity!

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