Patents versus Patients! (Part 2)

I am writing the second part of one of my previous posts titled Patents versus Patients! after a long time. The Indian courtrooms are witnessing a series of battles that are going to determine the fate of millions of Earthlings around the world. It is a war between those who want to kill millions of people by denying them life-saving medicines and those who want to save millions of lives. It is a war between the greed of a few and the lives of millions of Earthlings. In short, it is a war between evil and good! Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind about which side I support in this war that may lead to more deaths than the Second World War if the killers win.

The right to life is a fundamental Human Right . . . so is the right to access life-saving medicines . . .

Image: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

First, I shall include a press release from the team of noble international life-savers, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors without Borders) below:

The Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+), and the Lawyers’ Collective HIV/AIDS Unit officially submitted their opposition to a patent application filed in the Kolkata patent office by Glaxo Group Limited for Combivir, a fixed-dose combination of two AIDS drugs (zidovudine/lamivudine, or AZT/3TC). The opposition is based on technical and health grounds. If India grants a patent on this AIDS drug, it will set a precedent that will hamper access to affordable AIDS medicines worldwide.

“Affordable generic AIDS medicines have been one of the cornerstones of our ability to keep more people alive, including here in India where we began treating people with AIDS this year,” said Dr. Pehrolov Pehrson, of MSF’s treatment project in Manipur, where all patients on antiretrovirals receive generics produced in India. “Without a reliable supply of low cost AIDS drugs – made possible because medicines patents did not exist in India for many years – national governments and treatment providers alike will be faced with an uphill battle, and patients risk having vital treatment interrupted or priced out of their reach.”

Of the over 60,000 patients in nearly 30 countries in MSF projects, 84% receive generic AIDS medicines made in India. Over 90% of all patients using AZT/3TC in MSF projects are on generic versions of the drug. National treatment programmes in India, Burkina Faso, Mongolia, Central African Republic, Malawi, Peru, the Republic of Kyrgizstan, Cambodia, Ukraine and Swaziland heavily rely on generic AZT/3TC. The availability of affordable quality generic versions of Combivir (AZT/3TC) and other anti-retroviral medicines has allowed developing countries to put more people on treatment and thus extend their lives.

The Indian groups opposing the patent are arguing that Glaxo’s Combivir (AZT/3TC) is not a new invention but simply the combination of two existing drugs. They say the granting of such a patent risks increasing the cost of anti-retroviral treatment for many people living with HIV/AIDS, thereby further increasing the burden on developing countries already struggling to treat patients.

“Universal Access to AIDS medicines will remain an elusive goal if there isn’t a steady supply of affordable medicines. Decisions made by Indian patent offices are a question of life or death for people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide who rely on the availability of these drugs made in India,” said Ellen ‘t Hoen, Director of Policy Advocacy at MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.

Last year, India changed its patent law to comply with the World Trade Organization’s patent rules. Three weeks ago, India granted its first ever patent to Roche for a hepatitis C treatment.

However, the Indian Patent law allows oppositions to a patent application before it is granted. Indian cancer patients and generic drug manufacturers recently opposed a Novartis patent application for Gleevec (Imatinib Mesylate), an anti-cancer drug, on the grounds that the application claimed a new form of an old drug. The patent was subsequently rejected by the patent office. Petitioners are now demanding that the Combivir patent application be rejected on similar grounds.

Here is a part of another press release that shows how people are being blinded by denying them access to affordable medicines:

Many patients with advanced HIV/AIDS can fall prey to the infection, cytomegalovirus (CMV) which will if untreated, lead to total and irreversible blindness in a very short space of time – sometimes just weeks.Blindness caused by CMV is preventable, but the most available treatments are invasive and far from ideal – injections directly into the affected eye or intravenous, twice-daily treatment requiring a long stay in hospital.There is a better medicine available – an oral medication, valganciclovir, produced by Roche. This drug is patented in China and the company charges US$ 10,000 for a four-month supply – simply too expensive for the vast majority of people most at risk of going blind. It’s a similar situation in both India and Thailand – both middle- income countries where the product is patented. While the manufacturer offers discounts to the poorest countries – mainly in sub-Saharan Africa – middle-income countries including China are offered no such discount and are charged the same as wealthy countries.Dr. Peter Saranchuk has worked in China in both of MSF’s HIV projects – in Nanning and the recently closed XiangFan project treating patients with HIV/AIDS. He describes his experiences in treating CMV and the frustration of seeing patients suffer because the best medicines are unaffordable.

My previous post Patients versus Patients! focussed on one Swiss company Novartis. Here is another Swiss company, F Hoffman-La Roche that seems to have been involved in a shady deal to obtain a patent in India. A case is going to be filed in the Madras(Chennai) High Court against the violation of fundamental rights as well as the weakened patent law.

Here is the link to another battle that is taking place in the Indian courtrooms, this time between the Brazilian AIDS advocacy group ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association) and the Indian NGO SAHARA (Centre for Residential Care & Rehabilitation) on one side and the American firm Gilead Sciences on the other.

Also, take a look at this link to an interesting discussion from the XVI International AIDS Conference.

It is clear from all these links that the Indian courts have become the battleground in a war which will determine the fate of millions of humans around the world. The evil forces will use the dirtiest tricks to succeed in their nefarious designs of killing people by denying them access to life-saving medicines and deriving pleasure in watching them suffer and die. They are true sadists! Shame on them!

(To be continued)

Related post:

Patents versus Patients! (Part 1)

Hindustan Times steals a popular blogger’s photograph!!!

The so-called “mainstream media” in India is stooping to new lows with each passing day! Most of the “mainstream newspapers” have ceased to report news but have resorted to sensationalism and trivialism to sell their newspapers. The broadsheets are broadsheets only in name and form, but their content is sheer tabloid journalism. This has led to readers calling them as “broadloids”. Going by their news content, one should actually call them “broadvoids”. There are exceptions, ofcourse, and such exceptional newspapers are regarded highly for the quality of their journalism and their ethical reporting. One of the exceptions is The Hindu.

Well, sensationalism and trivialism are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many other unethical practices they indulge in to sell their newpapers. But stealing is the latest one!

Hindustan Times, a so-called “mainstream newspaper” has stolen a photograph that was taken by my favourite blogger and the person who led me to the blogosphere, Nita. Hindustan Times is published from Delhi and Nita lives in Mumbai. The article caught her eye because she was interested in the subject as she had written an article on the same on her blog. The article in the Mumbai edition of the newspaper is titled Towards getting it write and is penned by Rukmini Banerji and Wilima Wadhwa. The content is original but the photograph is a stolen one as the newspaper neither asked Nita’s permission to publish the photograph nor provided an acknowledgement. Nita is a freelance journalist and writer herself and she has written to the editor about this. Read more about this on her blog, A wide angle view of India.

Here is Nita’s original photo . . .

And here is the photo that was published in the newspaper . . .

Both the images are from Nita’s blog, http://nitawriter.wordpress.com

Now, Hindustan Times is supposed to be a “major” Indian “mainstream” newpaper. It is a commercial entity that is flush with funds. On the other hand, Nita is a blogger who posts articles purely for the love of writing and blogging. Nita would have accepted the use of her photograph if it had been used for a non-commercial purpose with an acknowledgement. She has the original photograph that was taken near her home and she can prove that it was taken by her. A few blogger friends are writing about this to make sure the paper responds to her e-mail. I hope the newspaper acknowledges that it had used a photograph from her blog and pays her adequately for the same along with an apology from the editor or whoever was responsible for stealing her photograph.

Nita herself does not believe that the so-called “mainstream newspaper” is going to respond to her e-mail. But the power of the truly free alternate media, especially blogs, must expose the unethical journalism that the so-called “mainstream media” indulge in to sell their newspapers!

Wish you good luck in your battle against those so-called “mainstream media” guys, Nita!

A chapter on superstar Rajinikanth in school textbooks!

Rajinikanth (Tamil: ரஜினிகாந்த், Kannada: ರಜನೀಕಾಂತ್, Marathi : रजनीकांत, Telugu: రజినీకాంత్), one of the most influential and bankable film stars in the Indian movie industry and the person who is synonymous with the title superstar, now features in an English textbook brought out by the Oxford University Press for class VI students!

Rajinikanth, a.k.a. Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, a.k.a. the superstar . . .

Image: http://www.rajinikanth.com

Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on December 12, 1949. His mother tongue is Marathi, but he worked in Bengaluru, the capital of the state of Karnataka as a bus conductor. He learnt acting and the Tamil language before doing supporting roles in Tamil films. Early in his career, he concentrated on roles that called for acting skills but after he achieved superstardom, he was offered roles in films which marketed Superstar Rajinikanth as their USP. Apart from Tamil, Rajinikanth has acted in 173 movies, including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali movies. He has also acted in a Hollywood film, Bloodstone.

Despite the fact that he comes from a modest background, he has not allowed fame and money to affect him. He retains his characteristic humility in real life. He is known for his philanthropic activities and his concern for those who are less fortunate in life. Infact, the main reason for his unbelievable popularity, apart from his unique acting style and punch dialogues, is the fact that he strongly identifies himself with the working class. His biggest blockbusters have been films in which he has played the role of a man from the working class who makes it big in life but never looks down upon the poor but fights for their rights. He is portrayed as a hero who strongly opposes the concepts that keep people oppressed. He is portrayed as a fighter who fights the concepts of feudalism, “free market capitalism”, exploitation, oppression, crime, corruption, backwardness and savagery in most of his films as these concepts and ideas always flock together and are the bane of any society or country and are the enemy of humanity and civilisation as well. Rajinikanth also avoids product endorsements and has strongly criticised alcoholism and drug abuse in many of his films. He has also given up the practice of smoking in reel life, to act as a role model for the youth.

Rajinikanth has always played the roles of deeply patriotic working class citizens, like in this movie, where he plays a bus conductor, which he actually was in real life before becoming an actor and a superstar . . .

Image: http://www.rajinikanth.com

Rajinikanth’s popularity knows no boundaries. He has fans all over the world and they are not just people of Indian origin. He is quite popular in South Africa and parts of South-East Asia but is very popular with the Japanese, especially with the youth. Take a look at this dedicated Japanese fan site for Rajinikanth.

Here is a video from his last blockbuster, Sivaji . . .

If the video does not load, you can watch it here.

I have always been a fan of the தலைவர் (thalaivar-boss or leader) because of his humility and civilised nature in real life. There was this Tamil movie song about him:

Superstar yaarunnu kaetta, chinna kuzhanthaiyum sollum . . . which means If you wonder who the superstar is, even a child will tell you . . .

Now, with these English textbooks from Oxford University Press, those lines are all set to become a reality!