{"id":3043,"date":"2006-09-09T08:39:05","date_gmt":"2006-09-09T07:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moomango.co.uk\/htb\/?p=3043"},"modified":"2014-08-29T10:32:24","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T10:32:24","slug":"patent-oppositions-filed-on-three-essential-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/3043","title":{"rendered":"Patent oppositions filed on three essential drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the continuing struggle to ensure that patents are not granted at the cost of human lives, health groups in India recently filed three more pre-grant patent oppositions against essential medicines.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copies of these oppositions can be obtained at the Lawyers Collective website at:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/lawyerscollective.org\/lc_hivaids\/amtc\/folder.2005-12-20.2101894352<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Patent Office in Chennai, the Indian Network for People Living with HIV\/AIDS (INP+)\u00a0and the Karnataka Network of People Living with HIV\/AIDS filed an opposition against Novartis\u0092s\u00a0patent application for\u00a0atazanavir (subsequently licensed to Bristol Myers-Squibb),\u00a0a critical second-line protease inhibitor.<\/p>\n

The opposition is based on four grounds: (1)\u00a0that a prior patent\u00a0discloses the\u00a0compound that is claimed in the atazanavir application, and thus\u00a0is not \u0093new\u0094\u00a0under\u00a0Indian law; (2) that the application is not \u0093inventive\u0094 and is not patentable under Indian law;\u00a0(3) that the application describes a \u0093new form of a known substance\u0094 and is thus not an \u0093invention\u0094 under Indian law; and (4) that the applicant has failed to provide the Patent Office with certain information that it was required to submit. If successful, this opposition will pave the way for generic companies to produce affordable versions of this critical second-line drug.<\/p>\n

INP+ and the Uttar Pradesh Network for People Living with HIV\/AIDS filed an opposition against GSK\u0092s patent application for amprenavir in the Delhi Patent Office. Amprenavir is the base molecule for the important protease inhibitor fosamprenavir, and thus the grant of patent for amprenavir could allow GSK to prevent other manufacturer from producing generic versions of fosamprenavir. This opposition is also based on the ground that the application is not \u0093new,\u0094 that it is not \u0093inventive,\u0094 and that it is just a \u0093new form of a known substance.\u0094\u00a0\u00a0Additionally, the opposition is based on the\u00a0grounds that the application is merely a \u0093new use of a known substance,\u0094 and thus not patentable under Indian law, and that it is, at most, a \u0093mere admixture\u0094 and is thus unpatentable.<\/p>\n

Finally, INP+ and the Tamil Nadu Network People Living with HIV\/AIDS filed an opposition against valganciclovir, a critical treatment for CMV retinitis, a common AIDS-related opportunistic infection that can cause blindness. This opposition is based on the procedural grounds that the application concerns an invention from before 1995 and is thus unpatentable in India. India incurred its obligations under TRIPS as of 1 January 1995, and thus any inventions that pre-date 1995 are considered \u0093public domain\u0094 in India and thus are not patentable.<\/p>\n

We are hopeful that the PLHA groups will prevail in their struggle for access to the medicines that sustain their health. We are also hopeful that other health-related groups will\u00a0take\u00a0this information and broaden\u00a0the fight against patents on essential drugs by opposing patents on their own.<\/p>\n

Source: Press release from Lawyers Collective HIV\/AIDS Unit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the continuing struggle to ensure that patents are not granted at the cost of human lives, health groups in India recently filed three more pre-grant patent oppositions against essential medicines. Copies of these oppositions can be obtained at the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-treatment-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}