Novartis Urged to Drop Drug Patent Case in India

South Africa's AIDS Law Project is asking Novartis to suspend a legal challenge in India that ALP contends could prevent newer AIDS drugs from reaching poor countries.

On Monday, Novartis will ask an Indian court to reconsider its patent application for imatinib mesylate (Gleevec, Glivec), a cancer drug to which a patent was refused in January by India because its Patents Act restricts the granting of "trivial patents." The cancer drug was considered a new form of an old drug and thus not protected by drug patent laws, which until 2005 India did not recognize.

ALP is asking Novartis to drop the challenge, saying that if the drug company won, newer AIDS drugs now under review in India would be ensnared under similar patents.

More than 80 percent of the 80,000 HIV/AIDS patients Doctors Without Borders treats with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in more than 30 countries receive generic-based regimens. South Africa imports generic ARVs and compounds from India, said ALP's senior researcher Jonathan Berger. If Novartis wins its case, the flow of cheap drugs to the country could be stymied, he said.

Novartis sells the cancer drug as Gleevec and Glivec for $2,600 per patient per month where it holds the drug's patent. In India, imatinib mesylate is available for less than $200 a patient each month.

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