03 November, 14:07
(ANSA) - NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 3 - India has revoked the patent of a drug produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche and used for the treatment of hepatitis B. The Indian media reported it today. The decision was taken by the Indian Court of Appeal for Patents (IPAB) according to which the drug Pegasys "is not an invention" and there are other less expensive therapies available on the market. The treatment, which lasts six months, costs the equivalent of more than $8,700, a huge amount for most Indian patients.
The Roche drug had been the first to obtain a patent in 2006 under the Trip regime on the protection of intellectual property which came into force in India the previous year.
The appeal was presented by a public health foundation called Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust and which had contested the validity of the patent. It is the second debacle for Roche in India in the last two months. In September, he lost a legal battle with Indian competitor Cipla over the cancer drug Tarceva.
Those in charge of the foundation hope that with the end of the monopoly, new spaces will open up for generic producers with the consequent decrease in the price of the treatment. (HANDLE).
