November 2011
2 posts
First ever ATV/r combination pill improves...
On 18 Novermber 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration granted tentative approval for Matrix’s atazanavir sulfate and ritonavir fixed-dose combination (FDC) tablets, 300/100 mg.
MSF has long advocated for generic manufacturers to develop a heat-stable FDC of atazanavir/ritonavir (ATV/r). This is the first such FDC to receive approval from a stringent regulatory authority or the WHO...
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Brazilians demand greater access to crucial HIV...
Brazilian civil society will oppose a patent application today for the key HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r), in an effort to allow access to more affordable generic versions of the medicine. The move is part of efforts to use all available public health provisions within international trade rules to increase access to the drug for people living with HIV/AIDS. The international medical...
July 2011
1 post
14th Edition of Untangling the Web Launches at...
MSF launched the 14th edition of Untangling the Web at the International AIDS Conference in Rome on Sunday, 17 July 2011.
The big news this year is that several pharmaceutical companies have abandoned HIV drug discount programmes in middle-income countries.
From MSF’s press release:
“While there is continued progress to reduce prices for the poorest countries, a significant number of...
April 2011
2 posts
Driving a decade of change: HIV/AIDS, patents and...
From Journal of the International AIDS Society:
Driving a decade of change: HIV/AIDS, patents and access to medicines for all
Authors: Ellen ‘t Hoen, Jonathan Berger, Alexandra Calmy and Suerie Moon
ABSTRACT
Since 2000, access to antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV infection has dramatically increased to reach more than five million people in developing countries. Essential to this...
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Cipla applies to Merck for a voluntary licence for...
Pharma major Cipla has applied for a “voluntary license” for Merck’s anti-HIV drug Isentress saying the drug is exorbitantly priced and is inaccessible to needy patients in India.
What this means is that Cipla is asking Merck to share the technical know-how for making the drug, so that Cipla can make and sell a generic version in India, and in turn pay a royalty to...
February 2011
3 posts
Medicines Patent Pool Releases Status of...
Four pharmaceutical companies have stated their intent to enter into formal negotiations with the Medicines Patent Pool – but five companies that hold patents on important AIDS medicines have yet to agree to do so. [See full details here] “We welcome the fact that that Gilead, ViiV, Roche and Sequoia have sent a clear signal that they wish to seriously engage with the MMP,” said Michelle Childs,...
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India rejects patent for atazanavir
In December 2010 the Indian Patent Office denied Bristol-Myers Squibb a patent for the atazanavir bisulphate because it ‘lacked inventive ingenuity’. However the company has filed other patent applications in relation to this drug which are still pending.
Atazanavir is recommended by the World Health Organization for second-line AIDS therapy.
MORE INFORMATION
Atazanavir in Untangling the Web
...
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New voluntary licences for rilpivirine
Tibotec, owned by Johnson & Johnson, has agreed to licence rilpivirine, a promising new AIDS medicine, to three generic manufacturers, however geographic limitations will keep the medicine out of the hands of many patients across the developing world. Aspen (South Africa), Hetero (India) and Matrix (India) have received licences from Tibotec to produce rilviripine. But the benefits will not...
January 2011
1 post
9 tags
India rejects patent for AIDS drug...
On 30 December 2010, the Indian Patent Office decided that the AIDS combination medicine lopinavir/ritonavir does not merit a patent. The decision marks a major victory for public health, and keeps the door open for generic production of the drug, that health providers such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) rely on to treat patients across the developing world.
Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) is a...