I thought this might be of interest to all of you fellow CMLers:
[Ecumenical News International] Archbishop Desmond Tutu has put his weight behind a campaign to get the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to drop a law suit against the Indian government to challenge the patent law of the world's second most populous nation. "People, not profits, must be at the centre of patent law for medicines," said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town in a statement backing a campaign by the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance for universal access to essential medicines. The EAA said in a 14 February statement that many civil society campaigners are pointing out that India's law contains elements that help put people before patents, "but Novartis is trying to force a change in the law". "Novartis has been refused a patent for a cancer medicine, Gleevec, on the grounds that the medicine was simply a new form of an old medicine with a trivial change, something which cannot be patented under Indian law," noted the EAA. "Novartis is not only seeking to overturn this decision but also to challenge the law itself and the way in which India has implemented international trade rules on intellectual property." Medicines manufactured in India are imported by many developing countries since India has become a manufacturing hub for generic versions of drugs patented elsewhere. More than half of the medicines currently used for HIV and AIDS treatment in developing countries come from India, said the EAA. Ranjit Shahani, managing director of Novartis India, was, however, quoted by Asia News International on 11 February as saying that the significance of the case in India was beyond the issue of acquiring patent rights for Glivec as the drug is known in India. "This whole case is about gaining clarity. Clarity is important not only for government, industry, but also for the patients," Shahani was quoted saying by ANI. "Patents save lives, and innovation and discovery is very important for public health. This case is not only about granting patents for Glivec, but also [so that] incremental innovations are granted patents." India did not grant patents till 2005, till the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement obligated it to review its policy. The EAA said that in other countries where Novartis has obtained a patent for Gleevec, it is sold at US$2600 per patient a month. In India generic versions of the drug are sold for less than US$200 a patient per month. The Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, declared, "Novartis' proclaimed mission is 'to ease suffering and to enhance the quality of life'. But this case is not about prioritising life. It has every appearance of protecting wealthy corporate interests at the expense of the health of millions for whom access to affordable medicines is a matter of life and death." A ministerial declaration of the World Trade Organization in 2001 affirmed that international trade rules on patents "can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all". The EAA said India has designed a patent system that aims to reward genuine innovation and protect public health. The country's law says it is not possible to patent "the mere discovery of a new form of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance". Bishop Yvon Ambroise, of the commission for justice and peace of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India said: "How can Novartis justify asking for the right to patent changes to a medicine that bring no new benefit? We support practices that encourage and reward real innovation and progress in improving the health of people in need. We condemn practices that trivialise innovation for the sake of maximising corporate profits." ____________________________________________________________________________________ Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to CMLHope@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
