# \[e-drug\] Novartis response to case statement by India **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [April 18, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-novartis-response-to-case-statement-by-india/27731 "2007-04-18T20:53:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dominic\_Atkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Dominic\_Atkins](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Dominic_Atkins)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-novartis-response-to-case-statement-by-india/27731/1 "2007-04-18T20:53:08Z")
E-DRUG: Novartis response to case statement by India ---------------------------------------------------- In response to the statement of the Indian Ambassador (to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union) at the European Parliament which was posted on e-drug on 15th April 2007, Novartis would like to add some comment. What follows is a briefing which was sent to members of the International Trade Committee before that hearing to set out the facts and issues in this case. We would further like to add that the European Parliament has not urged, nor even asked Novartis to drop its litigation. We are pursuing an action through the Indian courts to clarify the law, as is our right as a corporate citizen of India. Our actions will not endanger the supply of Glivec to patients in India, or the supply of generic drugs to the developing world given the international safeguards in place. Dominic Atkins Novartis dominic.atkins@novartis.com --- 11th April 2007 This afternoon, the International Trade Committee will discuss the legal action brought by Novartis in India concerning our medicine Glivec. As a result, I thought it would be useful for you to have a short written briefing prior to this discussion. These are the main points I would like to address: The legal case does not concern access to medicines. On the contrary, 99% of the Indian patients who take Glivec (circa 6,600 patients in total) receive it from Novartis for free. Worldwide, Novartis is donating Glivec at no cost to approximately 19,000 patients in 80 countries. Our legal action in India does not undermine the provisions that allow access to medicines. Novartis only challenges those provisions of Indian Patent Law which are not currently in compliance with international law. Novartis fully supports the TRIPS conditions that promote access to medicines for developing countries and the Doha declaration. Our legal case has no impact on pending patent applications for new HIV treatments. Most new HIV treatments are new compounds, thus falling completely outside the scope of the current dispute. Our case concerns incremental improvements of earlier compounds. Novartis?s position is that such innovations should also be patented. Our opponents argue that such stepwise innovations do not deserve to be protected as they often bring no additional value. This is however, a strange argument. Patents for incremental innovation do not prolong the life of the original patent. Thus, generic companies can always produce medicines based on the initial compound when the patent expires if they believe that the incremental innovation does not add value to the original product. The case also concerns the conflicting interests of Indian generic manufacturers and the innovative pharmaceutical industry. Indian generic manufacturers target the middle income populations but not the ?real poor?. In India, the generic version of Glivec costs 4.5 times the average annual income. A strong patent law is in the interest of India. One third of pending patent applications for pharmaceuticals comes from Indian pharmaceutical firms. Indian companies have a strong interest in having patents for incremental innovations and they have publicly supported our case. Novartis contests strongly that our case undermines the supply of affordable medicines to the developing world. Indian generic companies focus on the developed world and India; only 8% of their sales goes to the developing world outside India. By contrast, the innovative pharmaceutical industry treats 716,000 HIV patients in the developing world. Novartis is deeply committed to ensure that patients have access to medicines. In 2006, our access to medicines program reached 33.6 million patients. Novartis spent USD 755 million last year alone. Public private partnerships can play an important part. Novartis is committed to exploring the issue of access to medicines. But, any solution must be sustainable. Generics and the demise of the patent system is not a viable solution in the long-term. As the world's second largest manufacturer of generic medicines, Novartis understands and recognizes the contribution of generics once drug patents expire. Our concern is with the non-recognition of intellectual property rights that ultimately advance pharmaceutical research and development for better medicines so that patients needs will be met in the future.