E-DRUG: Vasella questioned about Novartis legal action against India
--------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release from the Berne Declaration
Lausanne, Zurich, 6 March 2007
Vasella questioned at the General Meeting in Basel about Novartis legal
action against India
At Novartis General Meeting today, the Berne Declaration will urge Dr.
Vasella, to drop Novartis legal action against India, which threathens
access to affordable generic medicines for millions of poor people in
developing countries. The Berne Declaration with Oxfam will urge attending
shareholders to make the same request to the company. Moreover investors
are starting to question Novartis policy on the issue.
Concerns about Novartis legal action in India is being raised by investors
too.
Dan Rosan from the US-based Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
(ICCR), an association of 275 faith- based institutional investors,
states: 'Novartis has substantially invested in neglected disease
research, policy development, and stakeholder engagement, differentiating
itself from the rest of the pharmaceutical industry. Now, their actions in
this case are undermining that record Novartis's legal tactics in this
case have raised the stakes higher than the several thousand Indian
patients relying on Glivec, to involve the millions of people kept alive
today by generic AIDS drugs from India.'
'Novartis are threatening their own future profits as well as access to
medicines putting at risk their reputation in key emerging markets and
undermining public acceptance of the intellectual property regime on which
pharmaceutical profits depend.'says Alex van der Velden from
FairPensions, the British campaign for responsible investment.
Julien Reinhard from the Berne Declaration will intervene at today's
Novartis Annual General Meeting, to raise the issue directly to Dr.
Vasella. The Berne Declaration with Oxfam will distribute material to
attending shareholders urging them to do what is in their power in order
that Novartis drops its legal action against India.
Julien Reinhard, Berne Declaration: 'The Novartis case in India goes
beyond the case of anticancer medicine Glivec® because it is directly
challenge an internationally recognized public health safeguard. This has gone
far beyond India alone. The concerns expressed all over the world by NGOs,
individuals and personalities like former President of the Swiss
Confederation Ruth Dreifuss or South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
deserve to be taken seriously by the company. It is time for Novartis to
show corporate responsibility by dropping its case in India.'
Celine Charveriat, Oxfam International:'It is difficult to see how a
company which prides itself on its philanthropy in the developing world
can at the same time be engaged in a lawsuit which would undermine access
to affordable medicines. Novartis has apparently not learned the lessons
from the 2001 South Africa case, when big Pharma sued the South African
government for trying to uphold public health and was forced to back
down.'
Contacts:
Julien Reinhard, Berne Declaration
+41(0)76 327 67 41 (mobile), +41(0)21 620 03 06 (office)
Background information:
Following rejection of its patent application for the cancer drug Glivec,
Novartis filed suit against the Indian government to fight the patent
rejection. At the same time, the company launched a second legal action
against a key public health provision in the Indian law (section 3d). A
Novartis victory in the Indian case would cut off access to affordable
generic versions of many medicines, in India and abroad. India is a key
exporter of low-cost, quality medicines to much of the developing world,
in particular HIV/AIDS medicines.
In October 2006 the Berne Declaration sent a letter to Novartis
requesting to drop its legal action. This letter is endorsed today by more
than 70 NGOs from Switzerland and the rest of the world as well as by
several personalites like Ruth Dreifuss, former President of the Swiss
Confederation and Jean Ziegler, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the
right to food.
More informations on:
http://www.evb.ch/en/f25000047.html
Alexandra Heumber
EU Advocacy Liaison Officer
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Access to Essential Medicines Campaign
Rue Dupre, 94. 1090 Brussels
++32 (0) 2 474 75 09 (Dir off)
++ 32 (0) 479 514 900 (Mob)
++ 32 (0) 2 474 75 75 (Fax)
"Alexandra HEUMBER" <Alexandra.HEUMBER@brussels.msf.org>