Posts tagged india
Photo: Hundreds of activists gathered in New Delhi to protest Novartis’s attack on India’s patent laws in 2007. MSF and others continue to oppose the legal case today. India 2007 © MSF
The Novartis Drop the Case Campaign
Yesterday, India’s Supreme Court upheld India’s Patent Act in the face of a seven-year challenge by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis.
“This is a huge relief for the millions of patients and doctors in developing countries who depend on affordable medicines from India, and for treatment providers like MSF,“ said Dr. Unni Karunakara, MSF’s international president.
BREAKING NEWS
Novartis has lost its case in Indian Supreme Court today, protecting access to affordable, quality medicines for people in developing countries.
Rape is a crime that affects many aspects of human life; it is a medical emergency, it is a psychological trauma and it has deep consequences on both family and societal level. It is of utmost importance that survivors of rape have access to immediate medical and psychological care, and also for the sake of preventing sexual violence altogether in a long-term perspective it is important that women’s rights in general are improved.
The day-to-day purpose of the project here is to heal kids like George of their severe acute malnutrition, so that they avoid stunting or, worse, death, and you could no more quantify this benefit than you could put a price on a human life. But MSF is here with an additional, even more ambitious goal: if we can help kids like George with a model of community based nutritional care tailor-made specifically for the Bihar State, India setting, then we might just be able to convince the government to adopt this model of care, scale it up and then help every sick kid like George.
But can you ‘treat’ malnutrition? Maybe there is something strange about putting illnesses which are directly caused by very specific parasites in the same bracket as one with “geosociopolitical” causes. The facts are plain though. Whether you choose to label it as a disease or not (and MSF does), you can do something about it, and that is what really matters.
MSF Launches Online Resource To Combat Unwarranted Drug Patent Requests
There are many reasons why people lack access to essential medicines, but one of the major barriers is the high price of drugs. Patents prevent the open competition that could drive prices down to lower, affordable levels. MSF Access Campaign launched an online database to help groups challenge unfair drug patents. Don’t give up. Keep up the fight!
Photo: Protesters carry signs outside Novartis’s Mumbai office on Worlds AIDS Day. India 2011 © Claudio Tommasini
Leena Menghaney: India’s Patent Law on Trial
In this piece from BMJ Group Blogs, lawyer and India manager of MSF’s Access Campaign Leena Menghaney discusses the two legal battles that are taking center stage in the struggle over India’s medicines patent law. Learn more at www.msfaccess.org
This decision once again affirms that courts can and should act in the interest of public health in the case of pharmaceutical products.
Indian court case crucial for cancer sufferers
India’s Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a long-running legal case about drug patents. Swiss drug maker Novartis is fighting for exclusive rights to produce its blockbuster cancer drug, Gleevec. If it wins, that will change the rules for generic drugmakers who supply millions of poorer patients in India and elsewhere. It’s also sparked a wider debate about the affordability of life-saving drugs.
Listen to the report from American Public Media’s Marketplace.
Photo: A child suffering from cancer in New Delhi, India. Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images
Young or old, no one should have to face this uphill struggle, due to a simple lack of nutrition.
Luke writes with tenderness about the tragic case of Reena, a malnourished four-year-old girl, who despite best efforts, fails to survive.
Luke is a pediatrician working in Biraul, India.
Novartis: the world is watching you, and we are not standing by silently. #STOPnovartis
Take action: http://www.msfaccess.org/STOPnovartis
Novartis is challenging the part of India’s patent law that says that a new form of an existing medicine can only be patented if it shows significantly improved therapeutic efficacy. This would stop the process of “evergreening” that lets pharma companies keep their patent longer than the original 20-years intended.
This graphic shows how evergreening poses a real threat to accessing life-saving medicines.
Take action: http://www.msfaccess.org/STOPnovartis
India Issues First Compulsory Licence
Groundbreaking Move Sets Precedent for Overcoming Drug Price Barriers
12 March 2012, New Delhi/Geneva – In a landmark case, the Indian Patent Office has issued the first-ever compulsory licence in India to a generic drug manufacturer. This effectively ends German pharmaceutical company Bayer’s monopoly in India on the drug sorafenib tosylate used to treat kidney and liver cancer. The Patent Office acted on the basis that not only had Bayer failed to price the drug at a level that made it accessible and affordable, it also was unable to ensure that the medicine was available in sufficient and sustainable quantities within India.
New Delhi/Geneva, 5 September 2012 Bayer compulsory licence hearing has concluded and the judgment order will be issued in the coming weeks.
Photo: India 2008 © Jean-Marc Giboux/Getty Images
Bayer Attempting To Block Affordable Patented Drugs In India
German pharmaceutical company Bayer is challenging an intellectual property decision in India that allows more affordable generic drugs to be produced in the interests of public health. You can see the extent of the price differences in this image.
Graphic by Will Owen
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