India to seek a patent and generic model

New Delhi, 9 may 2007. - The Brazilian decision to use a generic anti-AIDS made ​​in India has reaffirmed the Asian country's leadership in the production of these drugs, and has opened a new front for discussion of patent law .
A generic drug is simply an unbranded product containing the same components as the patented, priced lower than the latter because it includes the costs of research, security and marketing.
And, on day 4, the price difference led Brazil to suspend the patent on an AIDS drug by the multinational Merck and announce the import of a generic manufactured in India almost four times cheaper than the original.
The drug is "Efiravenz" offered by Merck, which owns the patent, to 1.69 cents per unit, compared to 0.45 of the generic manufactured by three laboratories relying on a loose Indian patent law in force since 1970.
That rule reduced the term of patents to a range of 5 to 7 years and imposed restrictions on registration in the pharmaceutical sector, which allowed Indian companies to copy the formulas of medicines through reverse engineering.
India thus became the world leader in production of generics and their companies dedicated to the export of medicines to least-developed, sensitive to the possibility of paying a lower cost treatments.
But according to Doctors Without Borders, the role of India as "pharmacy for the Needy" is in danger following the adoption in 2005 of more generous with patents, to harmonize intellectual property legislation in line with the Organization World Trade Organization.
"When patents are warranted, generics become illegal. We are concerned that India is the only source of cheap drugs and the law in the country enter the patent system, "he told Efe a spokesman for the organization, Leena Menghaney.
The controversy between patent and generic and lies, firstly, that if granted a patent for a drug to a company producing cheaper versions becomes illegal, resulting in tragedy for patients in poor countries.
"Patents have two problems, says Menghaney. First, the price of medicines is high because it hides a patent monopoly. And besides, patented drugs are not available in poor countries, because companies do not sell where anyone can buy. "
But on the other hand, drug companies claim that the effect of the economic benefits associated with patents is the incentive that allows further research toward better treatments and new drugs for diseases without a cure.
"For patients to have access to appropriate medications, the first step is to bring to market new and innovative products," defended the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis said in a statement.
"The best way to encourage innovation is to encourage respect for intellectual property," it added.
The duel between patent and generic is set and the dilemma of privileging economic benefits as a way to reach new medicines, or give preference to the necessary health protection at affordable prices.
"Drugs are not luxuries, but essential. Neither the citizens must be in the hands of companies and poor countries have treatments, so you have to balance the scales "concludes Menghaney.
In India itself the swords are at the top: a court of Madras (south) will sentence, possibly in June, a case filed by Novartis in order to achieve a patent for a drug against leukemia, advocates the repeal of some aspects of the 1970 Act.
While NGOs have used a media campaign and mobilization, worried about the consequences of the case, Novartis, which according to his spokesman is "optimistic" with the ruling, has trusted his luck Shanthi Bhushan's lawyer, former Indian Minister of Justice.
The outcome of this case not only be a replay of the tension between intellectual property rights and reasonable access to medicines, but could prolong the life of the "pharmacy of the poor" or mitigation.

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