Por: Rodrigo Gonçalves
Group fights undeserved patent
The Working Group on Intellectual Property (GTPI) of the Brazilian Network for the Integration of Peoples (REBRIP), integrated by the ABIA, Conectas Human Rights, GAPA / SP, GAPA / RS, GRAB, Gestos – Seropositivity Communication and Gender, GIV, IDEC, and Fenafar RNP + / SLS, submitted a pre-grant opposition against the patent application (PI0406760-6) of the drug Truvada ®, requested by Gilead Sciences Inc. The submissions of documents to the technical examinations allow interested parties to present arguments that challenge a patent application. The organizations argued that the application should be denied for not meeting the requirements of patentability of the Industrial Property Law (9279/96).
The patent application filed by Gilead intends to protect Truvada®, an anti-AIDS drug that combines into one pill two pharmaceutical products already marketed by Gilead: Tenofovir (Viread ®), whose patent has recently been denied and emtricitabine (Emtriva®) who had never been under patent in Brazil. Truvada ®, mainly because it is a combination of known products, lacks basic requirements for the granting of patents, such as inventiveness, novelty and industrial application. Moreover, the application has problems of disclosure, violating the very foundations of granting patent protection, which aims to make available the new knowledge to society.
The granting of a patent means that only the owner can explore the protected product, by eliminating competition and enabling the stipulation of high prices through monopoly. Brazilian civil society is very concerned about the abuses of the patent system, especially regarding the impact of abuse on public health and the population’s access to essential medicines. Divisional patent applications (such as the one filed for Tenofovir) or combinations, such as Truvada®, do not stimulate pharmaceutical innovation, in contrast, stimulate undeserved monopoly on technology already known and restrict competition in an inappropriate manner, violating the law population.
It is therefore crucial that Brazilian civil society continues to work to avoid the granting of undeserved patents for essential products for treatment of the population. Remember that the rejection of the patent for Tenofovir, another drug used in AIDS treatment, was responsible for the actual reduction of 31.1% of unit price of the drug, according to the Secretariat of Health Surveillance, Ministry of Health.
(To understand best event, click here: http://patentesphp.lc/blog/site/gilead_ingressa_com_acao_para_obter_patente_do_tenofovir.html).