AEGiS-AP: Health activists, AIDS suffers in Thailand file suit to dislodge Bristol-Myers patent on HIV drug

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Health activists, AIDS suffers in Thailand file suit to dislodge Bristol-Myers patent on HIV drug

Associated Press - Wednesday October 9, 2002
Uamdao Noikorn, Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK, Thailand - Wanting cheaper HIV/AIDS treatment for Thailand's estimated 1 million sufferers, victims of the disease and consumer activists on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to invalidate a drug patent held here by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb.

In legal action presented to the Central Intellectual Property Court, three AIDS sufferers and the local Foundation for Consumers claimed the patent on the drug Videx EC should be deregistered.

If the patent is withdrawn, other companies could produce generic versions for the drug more cheaply.

The plaintiffs argue that Videx is not the company's innovation, but merely a combination of an antacid and the active ingredient didanosine - for which the company holds no patent.

Bristol-Myers developed Videx after licensing didanosine from the U.S. National Institute of Health. It claims Videx can be patented because it increases the drug's effectiveness by including a buffering agent.

The company did not have a representative in court, and its executives in Thailand did not return calls seeking comment. A Bristol-Myers spokesman in the United States said last week that the company was committed to providing drugs to fight AIDS at an affordable price in the developing world.

Kamol Uppakaew, a plaintiff in the latest case, said it was well-known that antacids should be taken with didanosine in order to reduce stomach acidity and help the body absorb the drug.

"It's just general knowledge," said Kamol, who is also a leader of the Thai Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS.

Health activists around the world have been seeking to reduce the price of HIV medicines, saying the high prices discriminate against the poor. Drug companies have trimmed prices, but they generally oppose steep cuts, saying they need to recover the high costs of research and development.

Last week, they won a minor legal victory when the Central Intellectual Property Court ruled invalid part of the patent on Videx.

The court's ruling that Bristol-Myers' patent covers only pills containing between 5 and 100 milligrams of didanosine - also know as ddI - paved the way for other drug makers to market pills with dosages above 100 milligrams.

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