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MEDICINE ACCESS IN GHANA
Updated 12/23/00
UPDATE:
SUMMARY:
Mammoth drug maker Glaxo SmithKline is trying desperately to block those efforts -- and they are winning.
In an effort to increase drug access, a drug distributor in Ghana called Healthcare, Ltd. recently bought low-cost generic AZT+3TC from a generic drug company in India called Cipla, Inc.
Glaxo owns the patent rights to AZT+3TC (brand name Combivir) in the US, where they charge about $10 per pill. In India, the drug costs about 90 cents per pill. AZT and 3TC are easy and cheap to manufacture, and were brought to market on the US taxpayer s dime.
Glaxo has already made billions in profit from AZT, 3TC, and Combivir sales.
Glaxo SmithKline found out Cipla was importing generic medication to Ghana and accused Cipla of violating their Combivir patent rights. Glaxo threatened to take Cipla to court if they continued to import AZT+3TC to Ghana. So Cipla stopped.
Now Healthcare, Ltd. won't distribute the generic AZT+3TC that already arrived in Ghana, because they are scared Glaxo will threaten them, too. Desperate people with AIDS grow sicker and sicker while boxes of life-extending medication gather dust.
COMBIVIR PATENTS INVALID IN GHANA
Glaxo SmithKline is lying about its patent rights to Combivir in Ghana.
According to a patent official at a West African regional patent organization, Glaxo s Combivir patents are not valid in Ghana (see Schoofs M., Wall Street Journal, 12/1/00).
Glaxo is deliberately lying in order to scare generic competitors like Cipla from importing generic drugs to third world countries. In any case, Glaxo can afford to wait and take the dispute to court -- whether they end up winning or losing. But people with AIDS can t wait.
Glaxo is part of the Drug Access Initiative recently announced with UNAIDS Glaxo promises reduced drug prices to poor countries willing to play by their rules. And when Ghana took legally sound actions to increase medication access, Glaxo pulled every dirty trick in the book until Ghana stopped.
ACT NOW: CONTACT GLAXO AND DEMAND:
But what was GSK's first action regarding access to medication in Africa after their promise in May to make AIDS medication more accessible to the poor of the world? Stealing affordable drugs from dying Africans. GSK threatened legal action against a generic producer, Cipla (Mubai, India) in early August 2000. Cipla was selling $16,000 worth of a generic version of GSK's Combivir at greatly reduced cost to people with AIDS in Ghana. Duovir, Cipla's product, costs $0.90, while the US price for Combivir is $10.00.
GSK claims that Cipla's sales of the generic drug to Ghana violated GSK's patent rights to Combivir in Ghana. But because GSK filed for several patents relevant to Combivir before Ghanaian patent law recognized patents on medication, it is likely that GSK's claim to patent rights to Combivir are completely invalid.
Whether or not GSK's patent claims are valid, the entire African continent constitutes only 1.3% of the multi billion dollar global pharmaceutical market. GSK's actions against desperate countries must be stopped.
Send additional information for this page to info@healthgap.org.
FROM POOR GHANAIANS WITH AIDS
HEALTH GAP COALITION CALLS FOR A PHONE, FAX, AND LETTER ZAP OF GLAXO SMITHKLINE OFFICES THE END OF DECEMBER, INTO EARLY JANUARY. See Action Alert
People with AIDS in Ghana are trying desperately to obtain affordable AIDS medication. About 5 per cent of Ghana s adult population is HIV positive. Virtually all can't afford life extending HIV medication, because the drugs are priced out of their reach.
CONTACT GLAXO:
Glaxo Smith-Kline (GSK) makes many drugs that treat HIV and its complications and is one of the most vocal drug companies involved in the much-hyped "Big Five" HIV medication price cut deal announced by UNAIDS in May 2000.