Indian Patent for AIDS Drugs Would Harm Millions: Medical Group

Affordable generic AIDS drugs for poor patients in India could be history if a patent to GlaxoSmithKline's Combivir is granted, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (DWB) recently warned. GSK filed the patent for Combivir in 1997, anticipating India would pass a law recognizing drug patents under World Trade Organization rules.

Until last year, India did not recognize medical patents. The pharmaceutical industry's freedom to produce generic copies of drugs under foreign patents made India the world's third-largest producer and exporter of generic drugs. Under the new rules, India could now grant patents to new drugs, blocking production of new generic copies for 20 years. Current producers of generic drugs would have to pay royalties to patent-holders.

For Combivir, producers of generic copies would be required to pay a royalty to GSK, raising the price of AIDS drugs, say patient advocates. Indian rights groups have filed objections to GSK's application to patent Combivir in India, saying it is not a new invention but rather a combination of two existing HIV drugs.

"If India grants a patent on this AIDS drug, it will set a precedent that will hamper access to affordable AIDS medicines worldwide," said DWB. Of more than 60,000 HIV/AIDS patients that DWB treats with generic AIDS drugs, at least 50,000 receive Indian-made drugs.

"Affordable generic AIDS medicines have been one of the cornerstones of our ability to keep more people alive, including here in India," said Pehrolev Pehrson, head of DWB's AIDS project in Manipur. "Without a reliable supply of low-cost AIDS drugs, made possible because patents did not exist in India for many years, national governments and treatment providers will be faced with an uphill battle."

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