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<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=mirashiva@yahoo.com
href="mailto:mirashiva@yahoo.com">Mira Shiva</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV><TT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt"><STRONG><FONT
face=Arial>INDIAN GROUPS FILE FIRST OPPOSITION AGAINST PATENT APPLICATION FOR
AIDS DRUG<o:p></o:p></FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV></DIV>
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style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
align=center><STRONG><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN></I><SPAN
lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Patents
in India Endanger Global Availability of Affordable
Medicines<o:p></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></DIV>
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style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">New
Delhi,<INS cite=mailto:msfuser dateTime=2006-03-27T10:39> </INS>Thursday,
March 30, 2006 </SPAN></I></B><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">-
</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Today,
the Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the Manipur
Network of Positive People (MNP+), represented by the Lawyers’ Collective
HIV/AIDS Unit officially submitted their opposition to a patent application
filed in the Kolkata patent office by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for Combivir, a
fixed-dose combination of two essential AIDS drugs zidovudine/lamivudine.
The opposition is based on technical and health grounds.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">“We
are objecting to the patenting of Combivir because it is not a new invention
but simply the combination of two existing drugs. More importantly, the
granting of such a patent risks increasing the cost of anti-retroviral
treatment for many people living with HIV/AIDS thereby further increasing
the burden on developing countries already struggling to treat patients,”
said K.K. Abraham, President of INP+.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Combivir
is a widely used fixed dose combination and is used extensively in projects
run by international aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Almost
all the Combivir used by MSF is generic. India, Burkina Faso, Mongolia,
Central African Republic, Malawi, Peru, the Republic of Kyrgizstan,
Cambodia, Ukraine and Swaziland are other countries also identified by the
Global Fund as using generic Combivir.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Patents
create monopolies on drug manufacture and prevent the production of such
affordable generic alternatives. The availability of affordable quality
generic versions of Combivir and other anti-retroviral medicines has allowed
developing country governments to put more people on treatment and thus
extend their lives. In India alone there are 5.1 million people living with
HIV/AIDS many of whom receive generic drugs under the national HIV/AIDS
treatment program. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">“Decisions
made by Indian patent offices are a question of life or death for people
living with HIV/AIDS who rely on the availability of affordable AIDS drugs
and other essential medicines made by Indian generic manufacturers,”
explains Anand Grover, Director of Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS
Unit.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Last
year, India changed its patent law to comply with the World Trade
Organization’s TRIPS Agreement that governs trade agreements and
intellectual property rights. Three weeks ago, India granted its first ever
patent on a drug to a hepatitis C treatment produced by Roche. Public
interest groups are deeply concerned this will set a precedent leading to
the patenting of other essential medicines including
anti-retrovirals.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">“Besides
Combivir there are other patent applications of essential medicines waiting
to be approved or rejected, including other anti-retrovirals and drugs for
treating mental illness, tuberculosis and opportuni<SPAN
class=560501405-30032006>s</SPAN>ti<SPAN class=560501405-30032006>c</SPAN>
infections, “ said Tahir Amin, an intellectual property lawyer with the
Bangalore based Alternative Law Forum.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in -17.3pt 0pt 0in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">However,
the new Indian Patent law allows oppositions to a patent application before
it is granted. Indian cancer patients and generic drug manufacturers
recently opposed a Novartis patent application for Gleevec, an anti-cancer
drug, on the grounds that the application claimed a new form of an old drug.
The patent was subsequently rejected by the patent office. Petitioners are
now demanding that the Combivir patent application be rejected on similar
grounds.</SPAN></DIV></DIV></TT></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>