E-DRUG: Novartis Boycott - update
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Dear all
http://novartisboycott.org/
Has been updated
The Drug Action Forum Karnataka (DAF-K), an organisation engaged in promoting issues related to public health in India, announces a call to boycott all products manufactured by Swiss MNC, Novartis, till Novartis withdraws its Supreme Court case (SC 20539 20549/2009) for seeking a patent on Glivec/Gleevec and abandon all its attempts and plans to misuse Indian decision making and redressal systems for its narrow ends. This is a renewal of the boycott call as the Supreme Court case hearing starts on 28th February 2012.
DAF-K has decided to renew the boycott call after prolonged deliberation, given the intransigent attitude shown by Novartis in obstructing access to a vital medicine for blood cancer. Imatinib mesylate is useful in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) a type of blood cancer. In addition to Novartis, several Indian companies viz. NATCO, Cipla, Ranbaxy and Hetero also produce and market this drug. Treatment with imatinib mesylate manufactured and marketed by Novartis costs Rs. 1,20,000 per patient per month, whereas Indian companies market the same drug at about Rs. 8,000 per patient per month.
Dr Gopal Dabade,
57, Tejaswinagar,
Dharwad 580 002
Tel 0836-2461722
Cell (0)9448862270
Dr Gopal Dabade <dabadedr@yahoo.com>