Indian NGO wants Gilead patents cancelled
An association representing Indian cancer patients has asked the country’s government to cancel Gilead Sciences’ patents on remdesivir, the experimental antiviral which is hoped can be used to treat coronavirus.
Remdesivir has emerged as one of the most promising candidates for a potential treatment for the coronavirus behind the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The drug is currently in clinical trials to test its efficacy and safety for treating COVID-19, having originally been developed as an investigational ebola drug.
Gilead, which originally developed the drug, is now facing pressure amid criticism over a potential monopoly.
Earlier this month, almost 150 health and poverty campaigns including Médecins Sans Frontières urged Gilead to waive all patent rights for the drug.
Now, India’s Cancer Patients Aid Association has asked the government to unilaterally revoke Gilead’s patents for the antiviral.
“It is imperative at a time like this that no monopoly rights be granted, so that more manufacturers can produce the drug to be made available to all the people who need it, at affordable costs,” said a letter from the CPAA to India’s minister of chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
The CPAA said cancer patients were at particular risk of severe illness from COVID-19, including those undergoing chemotherapy and/or radical radiotherapy, as well as those with lung, blood, and bone marrow cancers.
There is growing scrutiny on Gilead’s remdesivir patents, especially after a controversy over the company receiving the lucrative ‘ orphan drug’ designation for remdesivir from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
This designation is reserved for drugs which treat rare diseases, and Gilead’s decision to claim it for remdesivir during the coronavirus pandemic drew criticism, including from US senator Bernie Sanders. Gilead subsequently asked the FDA to rescind the designation.
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