Victory: Novartis withdraws an abusive patent for an over-priced cancer medication

On 3 July 2019, Doctors of the World and Public Eye, represented by Lionel Vial, filed a patent opposition at the European Patent Office against a patent covering Kymriah®. Kymriah® is a gene cancer therapy from Novartis, for which the French Social Security is billed €320,000 per patient. The aim was to denounce an abusive patent that aimed to strengthen a monopoly, allowing an exorbitant price to be imposed. At the end of November 2019, Novartis announced that it was withdrawing this patent and asked for it to be revoked. Novartis withdraws one of the patent covering Kymriah®, a victory achieved by mobilising civil society  The case made by Doctors of the World and Public Eye denounced the exponential increase in prices for new treatments arriving on the market. The aim was to draw attention to the prices of new gene therapies for cancer, which, at over 300,000 euros per person, put pressure on national health service budgets, and consequently access to healthcare for patients. In 2014, the exorbitant prices for medicines for hepatitis C led the French government and its counterparts in Europe to take rationing measures. As the same causes produce the same effects, it is very likely that cell therapies for cancer could also be hit by rationing measures. By creating the conditions for lower price negotiations, Doctors of the World and Public Eye also intend to reduce the prices of all future therapies of this kind. Patent opposition is a strong and effective tool t...
Source: Doctors of the World News - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Uncategorised Source Type: news