Opravy

Novartis against Colombia: “ No generic drugs to cure leukaemia.

This medicament belongs to us” They are talking about Gilvec, which is a drug that broke into the anti-leukaemia market almost 15 years ago.

It was defined as “a lethal weapon against the disease”.

In Colombia, there are 300,000 people suffering from leukaemia and 30,000 die every year.

There are no longer fund to pay it and the Colombian idea is to create a generic medicament.

Novartis sued Colombia which wants to create a generic drug out one of their most profitable medicaments.

The only downside is the cost, which is about 20,000 dollar a year per patient.

Given that Gilven is a treatment which Colombia is obliged to give for free to the sick people who cant afford it, Bogotá had to pay out 124 million dollar for the anti-leukaemia drug made by the Swiss multinational from 2008 to 2014 However, they said it was enough.

After classifying Glivec as a drug for everybody, they decided to appoint a domestic company to produce generics which would have the same features as the original one, labelled Novartis.

Novartis’ lawyers hit back, denouncing the Colombian government for violating the agreements of the world organization and commerce on intellectual property.

The Swiss giant reported the facts to the Colombian court.

"We don’t agree that the medicament was classified as a drug of public interest” they said from Basilea, where there is their headquarters.

At the same time, there is strong pressure on Colombia by the American government.

The relationship between us is at the stake." The Swiss prime minister slightly menaced.

Berne could hinder the Colombian candidacy for OCSE.

Novartis said that they want to avoid precedents which could be followed by other countries.

This event is likely to turn into a nightmare for the pharmaceutical industry.

In the meantime, the Colombian government, which is afraid of the possible consequences caused by the trail of strength with xxxxx, has not taken the important step to create the generics.

In short, they haven’t granted the patent to the domestic company to start producing it.