Application for HIV Combination Drug by Abbott Rejected

The Mumbai patent office on 3 January 2011 rejected American drug maker Abbott Laboratories' patent application for Lopinavir & Ritonavir, HIV combination drug. The decision will facilitate the low-cost local drug makers to make and sell their generic versions in India and other countries where the medicine is not patented.

Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK ) is the not-for-profit organisation which is behind the legal action. I-MAK specified that the Mumbai patent office refused to grant the patent to Abbott Laboratories because the drug was 'not an invention,'a key requisite to get a patent in India. A patent holder gains a 20-year exclusive marketing right for the drug in India.

Apart from I-MAK, a few local HIV drug makers such as Cipla and US-based Mylan-owned Matrix Laboratories had also opposed Abbott's attempt to get the patent in India. India has about 2.3 million people living with HIV.There are an estimated over 33 million people living with HIV currently and a little less than half require access to HIV drugs.

Some other countries such as Thailand and Ecuador have also granted compulsory licensing for Lopinavir & Ritonavir. Under the provision for compulsory licensing generic drug makers are allowed to sell a patented drug by paying royalty to the company who holds the patent for the medicine to bring down cost of medication for the patients.