Why Chemotherapy That Costs $70,000 in the U.S. Costs $2,500 in India

[Redfairen]

Why does Gleevec, a leukemia drug that costs $70,000 per year in the United States, cost just $2,500 in India? It's seemingly simple. Gleevec is under patent in the U.S., but not in India. Accordingly, Novartis, its Swiss-based manufacturer, may prevent competitors from making and selling lower-cost versions of the drug in the U.S., but not in India.

Last week, India's highest court rejected an application to patent Gleevec. While the legal issue in the case is important -- the patentability of modifications to existing drugs under Indian law -- the impact of the decision will likely be broader than just that issue, escalating a long-simmering fight over patented cancer medications in emerging markets.

Last week, India's highest court rejected an application to patent Gleevec. While the legal issue in the case is important -- the patentability of modifications to existing drugs under Indian law -- the impact of the decision will likely be broader than just that issue, escalating a long-simmering fight over patented cancer medications in emerging markets.

Rejecting the Gleevec patent application is not the only step that the Indian government has taken to circumvent patents on cancer drugs. Last year, India issued a compulsory license on Nexavar, a late-stage kidney and liver cancer treatment, enabling a local drug firm to produce a generic version of this medicine without the permission of Bayer, the patent holder. India has recently announced plans to grant compulsory licenses on another leukemia drug and two breast cancer therapies.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/why-chemotherapy-that-costs-70-000-in-the-us-costs-2-500-in-india/274847/

[JoeBlowToo]

1. The Indians are stealing....

Plain and simple theft of intellectual property. If the costs and profits for drug companies (which are too high) were spread out across the globe, Americans wouldn't have to pay such ridiculous amounts for critical treatment.

At the same time, pharma is more profitable than any other industry and there is no justification for that. But even in a fairer world, there are costs involved with developing and testing drugs which the Indians are avoiding by stealing the formulae.

[Yavin4]

2. Hey, Corp. America Wanted Unrestrained Globalism.

Yes, you get access to slave wages, but you also get your patents stolen.

[Zoeisright]

3. These pharma companies are making a mint off the suffering of others

and I only wish there was a hell so those fuckers could burn in them. Charging that type of money for these money-saving drugs is fucking evil.

Good for India.

[ljm2002]

4. The drug companies are stealing...

...and the U.S. government continues to help them gouge American consumers, while making it more and more difficult to get equivalent -- sometimes exactly identical -- medications cheaper from other countries like Canada (remember when Bush said it was "safety concerns" because, you know, those Canadians are so backwards).

Sure there are costs involved with developing medications. But the drug companies steal actual medications from traditional practitioners in other countries, then refine it and claim a patent, then tell the traditional practitioners they can't use herbal preparations they've been using for millenia, because that would be "theft of intellectual property".

Pffft.

[avaistheone1]

5. Shame on our politicians allowing it.

[JoeBlowToo]

6. Can you provide some more info on actual medications that came from herbal preparations?

Some specificity would be helpful.

[ljm2002]

7. I was thinking of the Neem Tree in India...

...where traditional practitioners had used it for millenia for such things as an insecticide, treatment of ulcers, diabetes and other disorders, an ingredient of toothpaste, contraception, and the wood itself is useful to build with.

But then one day the Grace company came in and started manufacturing neem tree extracts, and got some patents on their processes, even though these were taken originally from observing native methods (and of course the locals were never compensated for their knowledge).

So the next thing you know, farmers who had previously made use of the neem tree freely, now could not use their own methods but had to pay W.R. Grace Co. for the privilege of using the commercialized extracts.

Eventually, in 2005, Vandana Shiva and others brought a case to the European Patent Office and won. The Grace patent was revoked. (I am not sure if that still stands but I hope so!)

This is just one example. Basically, indigenous people are not recompensed for their efforts in finding uses for something. Then some Western company swoops in and expropriates the knowledge and adds a couple of steps to the process, usually to give the product a longer shelf life (which was not needed when the product was used locally), and then gets a patent. All of a sudden, the people who have been using the natural product for centuries, can't anymore because (a) the raw material is not (or less) available due to its being harvested and sold to the big company; and (b) because to use it without buying it from the company would violate a patent -- i.e. it would be "intellectual piracy".

Other plants that have been at the center of such issues are: African soapberry; GMO cotton; a Brazilian fungus that kills fire ants; and tissue cell lines gotten from human bodies. Again: these items are commercialized and the original providers of the material and/or the indigenous knowledge of how to use it, are not recompensed; rather, the big company swoops in, claims some process innovation, and suddenly they are the only ones allowed to distribute the material and to profit from it, while the original users and developers (the indigenous people) are left out in the cold and often cannot afford to use the patented form.

Vandana Shiva is one of the heroes of our time. She lays it all out clearly in many books, articles and lectures. Here are a few links I found this morning regarding the neem tree and the fight to preserve its use in India among locals and not have to pay for the privilege of using their own indigenous miracle tree:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8156919/Piracy-by-Patents-the-Case-of-the-Neem-tree-VANDANA-SHIVA-and-RADHA-HOLLABHAR
http://www.gene.ch/genet/2000/Jun/msg00032.html
http://www1.american.edu/ted/neemtree.htm
http://www.ifoam.org/press/press/2005/neem_patent_victory.php

[chiranjeevi]

8. Americans are stealing Indian tradational property

dear friend, Indians are using the neem tree from thousands of years as medicine, insecticide and pesticide in farming, Indians have the knowledge of Neem tree from thousand years. If you visit Indian villages and towns, you can see Neem tree before every house. Even we use Neem sticks for cleaning teeth. we shared the knowledge to world. why we should pay for the america for using our tradtional knowledge. study the history my dear friend, you will understand the fact that who is the real stealer!

[gopiscrap]

9. Welcome to DU

[gopiscrap]

10. welcome to DU