E-drug: Patents in Africa: PhRMA's August 1, 2001 Survey
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CPTech Review of PhRMA's August 1, 2001 Survey of patents on
Antiretroviral Drugs in Africa
The following is data from PhRMA's August 1, 2001 survey of
patents on antiretroviral products in Africa, as presented on
September 30 by Tom Bombelles from Merck at a seminar in
Philadelphia. According to the PhRMA survey:
* 31 countries in Africa have at least one antiretroviral drug under
patent. 27 countries have at least 4 antiretroviral drugs under
patent.
* Glaxo's Combivir and 3TC are under patent in 27 countries.
* Boehringer Ingelheim's Nevirapine is under patent in 26 countries.
* Roche/Pfizer's Nelfinavir is under patent in 24 countries.
* Glaxo's AZT is under patent in 10 countries.
* Glaxo's Abacavir is under patent in 12 countries.
* Glaxo's amprenavir is under patent in 12 countries.
* Outside of South Africa ddC, ddI, d4T, delviridine norvir and
kaletra are off patent.
* efavirenz, indinavir and saquinavir are lightly patented outside of
South Africa.
* Everything but norvir is on patent in South Africa.
CPTech's comments on the PhRMA survey are:
* The markets with the largest capacity to use antiretroviral drugs
have lots of patent protection.
* No effective national treatment regime can work without access
to the patents on combivir, 3TC, AZT, abacavir and Nevirapine, and
any treatment regime that uses protease inhibitors will need access
to nelfinavir and amprenavir.
* Only three companies, Glaxo, Roche and Boehringer Ingelheim
(BI) have aggressively sought patent protection for antiretroviral
drugs outside of South Africa.
* Any "public health expert" who claims patents are not a barrier to
access to antiretroviral drugs in Africa does not understand how
antiretroviral drugs are used (in feasible combinations, taking into
account adverse effects), or where the treatment opportunities are.
* Generic entry into the South Africa market is important for
generic firms to obtain the economics of scale to offer the best
prices in poorer African countries.
Here is the country by country data.
Benin 4 (combivir, 3TC, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Botswana 6 (combivir, 3TC, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir)
Burkina Fasa 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Cameroon 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Central Africa Republic 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Chad 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Congo 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Egypt 2 (combivir, 3tc)
Equatorial Guinea 2 (combivir, 3tc)
Gabon 5 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Gambia 7 (combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
nelfinavir)
Ghana 6 (combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, amprenavir, nelfinavir)
Guinea 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Guinea Bissau 1 (nelfinavir)
Ivory Coast 3 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine)
Kenya 7(combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
nelfinavir)
Lesotho 6 (combivir, 3tc, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
nelfinavir)
Malawi 7 (combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
nelfinavir)
Mauritania 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Niger 2 (nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Nigeria 2 (nevirapine, saquinavir)
Senegal 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
South Africa 15 (combivir, 3tc, ddC, AZT, ddI, d4T, abacavir,
delviridine, efavirenz, nevirapine, amprenavir, indinavir, saquinavir,
nelfinavir, kaletra)
Sudan 7 (combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
nelfinavir)
Swaziland 6 (combivir, 3tc, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
nelfinavir)
Togo 4 (combivir, 3tc, nevirapine, nelfinavir)
Uganda 7 (combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
nelfinavir)
Zaire 2 (efavirenz, indinavir)
Zambia 6 (combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir)
Zimbabwe 8 (combivir, 3tc, AZT, abacavir, nevirapine, amprenavir,
saquinavir, nelfinavir)
--
James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love@cptech.org
voice: 1.202.387.8030 fax 1.202.234.5176 mobile
1.202.361.3040
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