E-DRUG: Xalatan/Norvir - DHHS Secretary Thompson asked to grant licenses
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dear E-druggers
Xalatan/Norvir - DHHS Secretary Thompson asked to grant generic
manufacturers licenses to patents on government funded inventions for
treatment of glaucoma and AIDS
Washington, DC � January 29, 2004, -- Today Essential Inventions, Inc.,
asked Secretary Thompson to exercise "March-In" powers under the federal
Bayh-Dole Act, and issue generic manufacturers licenses to use patents
needed to manufacturer generic versions of Xalatan, a treatment for
glaucoma, and Norvir, a treatment for AIDS. Patents on both drugs were
obtained as a consequence of grants from the US NIH.
Full copies of the March-In petitions are on the web at
http://www.essentialinventions.org.
The petition alleges that Pfizer and Abbott Laboratories charge prices
that are unreasonable, in violation of a seldom-used federal law on the
commercialization of federally funded inventions. According to
Essential Inventions President James Love: "Pfizer charges U.S.
consumers from 2 to 5 times more for Xalatan than most consumers in
Canada or Europe pay. Tommy Tompson can change this with a stroke of
the pen, by insisting that federally funded inventions not be priced
higher at home than in other developed economies. Abbott is trying to
make everyone who uses non-Abbott AIDS drugs pay 400 percent more for
Norvir -- this is both price gauging and anticompetitive conduct. "
According to Sean Flynn, a lawyer for Essential Inventions, �The
Bayh-Dole March-In law has been on the books since 1980, but no one has
ever petitioned to make a federally funded medicine more affordable for
U.S. consumers. These are precisely the type of abusive pricing
problems the Bayh-Dole Act�s March-In clauses were meant to remedy.
U.S. consumers should not have to pay higher prices than Canadians or
Europeans for inventions Americans fund with their taxes. The Act can
be used to protect AIDS patients from Abbott's attempts to monopolize
the market for protease inhibitors."
"Anticipating and sharing concerns over the need for more research and
development, we are asking Thompson to require each generic producer of
Xalatan or Norvir to contribute to an R&D Fund, in the amount of $5 per
prescription for glaucoma or $004 milligram for Norvir. If Thompson
accepts the petition, the price of Xalatan and Norvir will both fall
dramatically, but total R&D investments will increase." said Love.
FMI: James Love (202-387-8030; mobile 202-361-3040;
James.Love@CPTech.org)
Sean Flynn, (202-387-8030, mobile 202-294-5749; Sean.Flynn@CPTech.org
Joy Spencer, 202-387-8030; cell: 703-727-6761
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--
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:james.love@cptech.org
tel. +1.202.387.8030, mobile +1.202.361.3040
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