SIPO rejects Gilead’s Sovaldi patent application

China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has rejected Gilead Sciences’s patent application covering its Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) drug after it was challenged by a non-profit group.

The rejection was reportedly confirmed on Friday, June 19, by the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), which challenged the validity of the applied-for patent.

Sovaldi is a drug used to treat hepatitis C. Gilead filed the patent application, believed to be the only one directed to sofosbuvir in China, in 2008.

I-MAK challenged the patent in September, claiming it lacked an inventive step and “covered non-patentable subject matter”.

Moreover, I-MAK complained that the amount Gilead typically charges for the drug is too much and that patenting it would prevent cheaper, generic versions of Sovaldi from entering the market. In the US, the drug can cost up to $1,000 per pill.

SIPO’s ruling follows a decision by the Indian Patent Office to reject a similar application for Sovaldi in January.

Last month, I-MAK announced it will challenge Sovaldi related patent applications in certain Asian, Latin American and European countries.

But it is not just I-MAK that Gilead faces opposition from. In February, France-based Médecins du Monde filed an opposition against one of Gilead’s Sovaldi patent applications at the European Patent Office.

Neither Gilead nor I-MAK had responded to a request for comment at the time of publication, but we will update the story should the organisation get in touch.