Global health NGO urgest EU action against Novartis
The international health group Medecins Sans FrontiEres (MSF) has made an unusual appeal to the European Union to back the Indian government in its legal fight with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis over generic drugs.
The international health group Medecins Sans FrontiEres (MSF) has made an unusual appeal to the European Union to back the Indian government in its legal fight with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis over generic drugs.
The company claims that India, whose generic drug sector produces a large proportion of medicines used in developing countries, insufficiently protects new drug products from being copied. Novartis is claiming in Indian courts that the country's generic drug legislation breaches the World Trade Organisation's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.
In a new memorandum, MSF has claimed that if Novartis wins, 'patents on new derivatives or combinations of existing drugs demonstrating no real innovation' will be secured more easily in India, and 'Indian companies could then no longer produce cheap generic drugs, which are essential for access to medicines for people in developing countries.'
MSF called for Brussels to intervene diplomatically over the case and help India develop liberal intellectual property law.