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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Patent plea on vaccine hits block

Patent plea on vaccine hits block

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published Published on Mar 13, 2016   modified Modified on Mar 13, 2016
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: International humanitarian agency Medecins Sans Frontieres has filed an application to block US pharmaceutical company Pfizer from obtaining a patent in India for a vaccine against pneumonia and allow Indian vaccine manufacturers to make low-cost versions.

The patent opposition moved by MSF has claimed that Pfizer's patent application, which describes methods of conjugating 13 serotypes (strains) of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae into a single carrier vaccine, does not merit a patent under India's patent laws.

The agency said its opposition to the patent follows "years of fruitless negotiations" with Pfizer to lower the vaccine's price. "(Pfizer's) vaccine is available in India through paediatricians for about Rs 4,000 a dose, and three doses are recommended," Leena Menghaney, head of the MSF's access campaign, told The Telegraph.

"We're opposing the patent because we want Indian vaccine makers to be able to produce and sell low-cost versions of the vaccine."

Pneumonia is a leading cause of childhood deaths worldwide. The vaccine, called PCV13, is designed to protect children from pneumonia caused by serotypes of S. pneumoniae. But MSF says the vaccine's cost puts it out of the reach of many in developing countries.

An MSF statement said on Friday that a vaccine producer in India had said it could supply the pneumonia vaccine for $6 (Rs 402) per child for all three doses.

"To make sure that children everywhere can be protected from deadly pneumonia, (more) companies need to enter the market to supply this vaccine for a much lower price than what Pfizer charges," Manica Balasegaram, executive director of MSF's access campaign, said in a statement.

MSF has pointed out that the European Patent Office has revoked an equivalent patent to the one filed by Pfizer in India.

"Our pre-grant opposition shows that the method Pfizer is trying to patent is too obvious to deserve a patent under Indian law," Menghaney said.

Patients' rights activists and agencies such as MSF have long campaigned for Indian companies' right to produce cheaper generic versions of medicines originally developed and patented by foreign companies.

They have urged the Indian patent office to rigorously apply section 3(d) of India's patent law, which can be used to deny patents to formulations that use minor tweaks to molecules of known drugs.

Representatives of multinational drug companies have argued in the past that opposition to patents undermines the value and role of the research and investment that go into the development of new drugs and vaccines.

The Telegraph, 12 March, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160313/jsp/nation/story_74268.jsp#.VuVtO-Y1t_k


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