E-drug: Legal innovation from AstraZeneca? (cont'd)
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Ellen is certainly right in her analysis. This is also not just a
pharmaceutical issue but is also seen in a number of other places�the
environmental movement, the suit by McDonalds in the U.K. against a
couple of people, etc. Often the companies don�t care whether or
not they win. The time and effort taken to defend against such actions
is enough to tie groups up for a long period. Or else the companies
realize that they won�t win but just want to delay some action. In
the AstraZeneca case, one interpretation of the company�s action
was that it was worried that once the report was released omeprazole
would be replaced on provincial formularies by one of the less
expensive proton pump inhibitors (the class of drugs that omeprazole
belongs to) thereby seriously cutting into sales of omeprazole. By
delaying the release of the report AstraZeneca may have sold tens of
millions of dollars more of its product.
I would like to hear from people working on drug bulletins in
developing countries whether or not they have been threatened with
legal action. Markets for new patented drugs (the ones that the
companies care about) in these countries are relatively small and the
circulation of the drug bulletins is also small. Perhaps these two
factors mean that companies are willing to ignore any analyses that
are unfavourable to their drugs.
Joel Lexchin MD
121 Walmer Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA M5R 2X8
Phone: +416-964-7186
Fax: +416-923-9515
e mail: joel.lexchin@utoronto.ca
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