Voluntary
Licensing- A Silver Lining
Sofosbuvir, a drug of choice for
HCV treatment
Many
failed to notice, that in a highly competitive Pharmaceutical market, Gilead
Sciences, USA, offered voluntary License to many generic Indian Pharma
companies including Hetero Labs, Biocon, Cadila,Cipla, Mylan Lab, Ranbaxy Lab
to sell its blockbuster and patented drug, Sofosbuvir, (Trade name- Sovaldi) to
sell this product in 91 countries. Gilead’s Sofosbuvir in combination with
other drugs was shown to have above 90% cure rate for Hepatitis C virus (HCV)
patients. The price tag is $900 for global market and Rs. 58,000 for Indian
market for 3- month treatment. The bottom line is these companies pays 7%
royalty to patent holder, Gilead. This model, (Voluntary licensing) if it
succeeds will become a trend-setter as it ensures protection of Intellectual Property
(IP) for patent holders and, simultaneously, ensures access to medicines, a
balance the industry has been striving to achieve.
Dr.TNK Suriyaprakash
(tnksuri@gmail.com)
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