Hepatitis C sufferer imports life-saving drugs from India, takes on global pharmaceutical company

[Stephen Cohen]

US hepatitis C patients travel to India for cheaper Sovaldi versions - Livemint
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This is an Interview with CIPLA Chairman

No one should be denied medication
 | Chemistry World

 

[Bang Galore]

I am not from medical field and dont have any idea about it,this thing i already put in my post. i am commented, because one thing i am sure that any type of Hepatitis doesn't cost that much in India.

Hepatitis is free......treatment won't be. Hepatitis A & B have vaccines but no cure. Hepatitis A is caused by Food/water contamination & is largely a self limiting disease with few fatalities. Hepatitis B is caused by infectious body fluids & blood and through infected syringes etc.. Far more dangerous than Hepatitis A & is a major killer. Hepatitis C has no vaccine , is a major killer & while there were treatments available before Sovaldi, their success was not guaranteed. Sovaldi pretty much cures you completely. That is why they price it so high in the west because most people are insured. Fear in countries like India is that the price has to be low enough or they risk potential action by the regulators. That is why it is priced around $900 for the 12 week course. Even that is being challenged under Indian law.

 

[Dhanush d]

Already the pharma lobby in Europe and USA are trying to mount pressure on indian

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More than 80% of pharmaceutical, pharmachemical, and biotechnological patent applications recorded between 1995–2006 were in just six countries (US, Japan, Germany, France, UK and Switzerland) - You don't base your investment in R&D on one country's market, you base it on the whole global market - In the EU or America or Japan … the law is not going to change. They are safe in these countries, that's where their profits come from, and that profit is protected. If they didn't have protection in those six countries, that's when they would have a point to make. The inability to find new blockbusters has nothing to do with the sales of a couple of drugs in the Indian market.

Patents are designed to reward a person’s or a company’s invention by preventing others from copying and selling a product. That gives the patent holder a monopoly on supply. And pharmaceutical companies work hard to gain and extend such protections.

India’s law sets a higher bar for protection than in some other countries, limiting the ability of companies to get patents for new versions of drugs whose active ingredients were previously known unless they can show significant therapeutic benefit. U.S. and European patent laws more readily grant patents to updated versions regardless of whether they offer major improvements in efficacy over the original compounds.

A frequent complaint was that the US Pharma Industry in 1990's was that the country’s patent office granted monopoly protection too easily for innovations that didn’t represent major advances over existing medicines or known science, a practice known as “evergreening.”

Longer-acting versions of old medicines were given patents, allowing their manufacturers to market them as better than the older versions, whose patents had expired—and whose prices were cheap. The collective effect of a low bar for patents drives up healthcare costs and insurance premiums for patients which is not acceptable in India.

When you weigh the need to stimulate innovation by rewarding it against the imperative of making life-saving inventions accessible to people, India’s approach surely makes sense.

New products aren’t developed in a vacuum, after all. They rely on generations of discoveries to which a whole population - indeed a whole world, is the legitimate heir.

85% of the World's HIV/AIDS Antiretroviral Drugs Made in India

This is the reason indian pharma industry is pressurized from USA and Europe . Moreover there is already considerable pressure on India regarding patent regulations . Its a catch 22 situation for us .If we dont have a strong patent regulation,vibrant research is not possible , If we do bring about such changes then it would result in exploitation such as this .While i am all in for capitalism since it is the hardwork and research which led to the cures but it should be reasonably priced .The way patents are awarded in this case is a cause for concern , I think we should not allow such essential drugs beyond reach of common man.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Chinese too are benefiting from this.

Documentary regarding the Western Pharamachutical legal fight against India Govt

 

[Black Alloy]

Hope India don't bow to these pharma lobbies, these pharma companies are killing people and making profits from it.

 

[Black Alloy]

"The high cost of sofosbuvir, branded in Australia as Sovaldi, has sparked worldwide criticism of US pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences Inc, which has the patent for the drug.

Sovaldi was approved for sale in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration last year.

In March, Mr Jefferys’ hopes were raised by a Sunday Tasmanian report which explained authorities in India had refused to recognise Gilead’s patent for sofosbuvir, enabling Indian pharmaceutical companies to produce generic versions at vastly discounted prices.

On May 14 Mr Jefferys boarded a flight to Chennai, where over the following two weeks he was able to negotiate a maze of bureaucratic hurdles and arrange the purchase of a licensed generic version of sofosbuvir from a major pharmaceutical company, Mylan NV.

Despite the difficulties involved, including fears about whether the drugs he purchased would be genuine, Mr Jefferys said he would not hesitate in recommending other hep C patients follow his lead."

Liver patients given a shot at life | The Mercury

 

[SrNair]

These Pharma MNCs are pathetic and cruel than arms manufactures .They say that they spend a lots for innovation .But it is wrong .Global Pharma giants earn a lots of profits than weapons and oil &gas industry.
There was a documentary about this in BBC.Only less than 10% will use for R&D ,rest will be use for business expansion and other benefits.

 

[ghameed]

For those with youtube

 

[Sky lord]

This is an open murder by these pharmaceutical companies. Life saving drugs etc should be made available at very low cost.

It's not as simple as that. It takes ten to fifteen years for a drug to go through all the trials and get approved. It also takes many millions of dollars. One Phase 3 trial can cost 50 to 100 million dollars and all the time there is no guarantee that the drug will be effective or get approved. Each country has its own regulatory bodies. One molecule out of so many eventually make it. The money and time has to be put up front by the pharmaceutical,company, if they find a drug that actually can be marketed and they are not allowed to make profits on it all drug related research will come to an end. So no new drugs.

It sounds cruel that life saving drugs are so expensive but companies need to make money from to continue to do research . The era of block busters drugs are pretty much over and nowadays pharma makes money mainly by tweaking drugs and extending patents.

The thing to do is to find a happy medium, pharma needs to make money, they are not charities but this constant extending of patents through minor modifications is not really acceptable.

Hepatitis is free......treatment won't be. Hepatitis A & B have vaccines but no cure. Hepatitis A is caused by Food/water contamination & is largely a self limiting disease with few fatalities. Hepatitis B is caused by infectious body fluids & blood and through infected syringes etc.. Far more dangerous than Hepatitis A & is a major killer. Hepatitis C has no vaccine , is a major killer & while there were treatments available before Sovaldi, their success was not guaranteed. Sovaldi pretty much cures you completely. That is why they price it so high in the west because most people are insured. Fear in countries like India is that the price has to be low enough or they risk potential action by the regulators. That is why it is priced around $900 for the 12 week course. Even that is being challenged under Indian law.

We need health insurance in India.

 

[Guynextdoor2]

Indian drug manufacturers are a hope for the ewhole world. This documentary shows the exceptional contribution we made to the fight against AIds when the big pharma wanted to let millions die in returns for profit. And then Cipla stepped in and saved those millions.....

 

[Black Alloy]

All I can say is hell with these big pharma companies, they are destroying peoples lives just for profit, India should be praised for not allowing them to monopolize the drug market.

 

[Black Alloy]

....

 

[sherin616]

Iam from kerala one day on local bus I met a nether land person he said his buisness is exporting indian medicine to netherland

 

[Black Alloy]

Iam from kerala one day on local bus I met a nether land person he said his buisness is exporting indian medicine to netherland

You mean a person from the Netherlands? Well it's good that India saves lives by cheap medicine, pharma companies need to be stopped from dominating and charging shit loads of money.

 

[Hack-Hook]

WTF.... my sister got hepatitis (not sure its A,B,C...) forget about $ it dosnt cost even ₹ 100,000 .

Probably hepatitis A we threat them by low protein high carb regime until it pass its course .