National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has identified availability of affordable drugs for second line AIDS treatment as one of the major problems of near future. The NACO admission has given credentials to the allegation made by health activists that Indian generic companies may find it difficult to come out with new generation AIDS drugs (especially new combinations) if the individual antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) are given patents in the country.

The Health NGOs had pointed out that the patent applications for ARVs such as Combivir (zidovudine/lamivudine, or AZT/3TC) are in the Indian "mailbox", that is, waiting to be approved or rejected. AZT/3TC is widely used in HIV/AIDS treatment projects, and a considerable amount of the AZT/3TC used by anti-AIDS campaigners comes from domestic manufacturers like Cipla, Aurobindo and Ranbaxy. These companies may find it difficult to come out with new combinations even if one of the ingredient drug gets a patent in India. NACO observation on the need to ensure affordable medicines for second line treatment becomes critical in this context.

Interestingly, the panic button pressed by the NGOs like Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) on the non-availability of second line drugs at affordable prices has not disturbed the Health Ministry. The provision of compulsory license imbedded in the Patent Act seems to be the reason for this attitude. While the government can exercise its rights for a compulsory license, NGOs have been questioning this approach by saying that the government ought to prevent the patenting of such drugs in the first place. They feel that that any post-patent efforts could choke their supply sources in other poor countries.

As Pharmabiz had reported, Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign (AMTC), a leading health NGO had scanned the mailbox to find that at least 11 ART patent applications have been filed by the multinational pharma majors in India.