Novartis under renewed pressure to end drugs trial

Mar 5, 2007, 15:15 GMT

Geneva - Shareholders of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis were urged Monday to force the company to drop its lawsuit against the Indian government over patent rights.

Novartis went to court in February after India refused Novartis a patent for a new version of the popular leukaemia drug Glivec.

The drugs company says it has been granted a licence in 40 other countries and is challenging Indian patent laws claiming they breach international standards for intellectual property rights.

The medical humanitarian organization Medecins sans Frontieres, MSF, claims if Novartis wins, millions of people would lose access to cheaper, generic drugs from India.

'We rely heavily on cheaper medicines from India. It is a major concern to us that Novartis' action will jeopardise access to affordable medicine in the poorest countries where we work,' said Dr Unni Karunakara, of MSF.

MSF called on Novartis shareholders, who are due to attend their annual meeting in Basel Tuesday, to put pressure on the firm to halt legal proceedings as the trial over patent law draws to an end at Chennai High Court in India.

Novartis, the world's third largest pharmaceutical company, which has provided the drug free to 99 per cent of users in India, says generics would still be available despite the court ruling and the trial was about patent law.

Thomas Wellauer, Head of Corporate Services for Novartis said when the case opened, 'Only if patents are respected can research-based organizations continue making long-term, risky investments in new medicines for patient.'

MSF buys a quarter of all its medicines, particularly for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, from India which it calls 'the pharmacy of the developing world.'

It claims more than 350,000 people have joined its campaign against Novartis including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the German development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, and the writer John le Carré as well as patients' groups and NGOs.