Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) faced a challenge at the European Patent Office in an effort to make Hepatitis C drug Sofosbuvir accessible at an affordable price to the patients. Two international medical organizations Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde (MdM) joined other civil society organizations to present their case on the company’s alleged monopoly of the market.
The medical groups campaigned in a bid to remove the trade barriers that has prevented millions of patients to access treatment. Their argument is that the Gilead’s patent on the drug, which they sell too expensively should be challenged. The science behind the drug is no longer new; other companies already have more advanced technologies.
For a long time, Gilead has manipulated the market by placing high charges on the sofosbuvir drugs making it inaccessible to most patients. For instance, the cost of the drug for 12-week treatment goes up to USD 59 000 in Europe while in the United States, the company charges more than USD 84 000 for the same treatment period.
The company’s patent monopoly on the market is a major barrier to access affordable hepatitis C treatment to many people affected globally and these drugs are life-saving medicines needed by many nations. Dr. Isaac Chikwanha, the Hepatitis C Medical Advisor for MSF’s claimed that the drugs should be available to all people who need them. It is projected that about 80 million people in the world are suffering from hepatitis C. Unfortunately, most of these people cannot afford the expensive drugs from Gilead.
The latest challenge campaign aims at making the drug easily available to people worldwide. The current state is that Gilead controls the production and distribution of the drug which poses a global challenge. For instance, countries where Gilead has strict licensing agreements, they cannot import or create generic versions of the drug. These posing risks to the lives of people living with Hepatitis C disease.
If the European challenge succeeds, it will hasten the availability of the generic versions of sofosbuvir drugs making them affordable to patients. Other countries will also take the initiative to campaign for the access of the life-saving drug. Other major patents on sofosbuvir have been rejected in China and Ukraine, and resolutions on the same are ongoing in Argentina, India, Brazil, Russia and Thailand.
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