Novartis India said for the past four years Novartis has given Glivec free for over 6000 patients in India and the case it filed in Chennai High Court is to demonstrate its commitment to defend international intellectual property standards and right to obtain patents for innovative compounds under the TRIPS agreement.
"Novartis demonstrated a significant commitment to patients in India through its Glivec International Patient Assistance Programme (GIPAP). As of August 2006, over 6000 diagnosed patients in India received Glivec completely free of charge through GIPAP, representing 99 per cent of patients who are on Glivec in India. To date Novartis has given around Rs 1,100 crore of Glivec free of charge under GIPAP in India. Globally, GIPAP has helped more than 17,000 patients in 83 countries" said Novartis in a statement.
It noted that Glivec is a world-class drug for people suffering from certain forms of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and gastro intestinal stromal tumours (GIST), the approved indications for Glivec in India, and is being studied for other rare diseases. Novartis has made this medicine accessible to eligible cancer patients suffering from these diseases through its GIPAP programme. It also said that the filing of the writ petitions with the Madras High Court demonstrates Novartis' strong commitment to defending international intellectual property standards and its right to obtain patents for its innovative compounds under the TRIPS agreement.
As reported, patient groups and health activists staged a demonstration protesting against the decision of Novartis to challenge the Patent Controller's decision rejecting their patent application for Glivec on August 23. The demonstration was held on the pavement in front of the office of Novartis at Worli.
Sources with Lawyers Collective said the demonstrators were denied police permission to conduct the demonstration and thus had to stage a silent protest. About 95 protesters from various organisations like Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), Positive Peoples foundation (PPF), Humsafar Trust, Uddan Trust, Committed Childrens' Development Trust (CCDT), Network of Maharashtra Positive People (NMP+), Network by People Living with HIV/AIDS and Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit. The protest was held to coincide with the scheduled hearing of Novartis' application for stay of the Patent Controller's decision in the Madras High Court. The matter has now been adjourned to 13 September 2006.
Meanwhile, in a communication to Pharmabiz as a reaction to our new report yesterday, a Novartis spokesperson clarified that the company has not received any memorandum from the protestors. When contacted, sources with Lawyers Collective said the memorandum was passed on to company officials through the police, who were present at the venue.
"When we insisted on meeting Novartis officials, the police denied us permission to enter into their premises. Instead a Sub Inspector told us that he would deliver the same to the concerned persons of Novartis. Later, when I asked him about the same he told me that he had given it to the given company official but did not name the official" said a Lawyers Collective senior source.