Hypertension patients take side of gov’t vs Pfizer

Four Filipinos suffering from hypertension on Tuesday asked a court to allow them to join the government's defense in a lawsuit lodged by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer over alleged patent violation of its anti-high blood pressure drug, Norvasc. Human rights lawyer Marvic Leonen told the court that allowing his clients to participate in the case would enable it to "consider the significant public issues presented in the light of the interest of all consumers." In March, Pfizer sued the Philippine International Trading Corp. and the Bureau of Food and Drugs and asked for an import registration for the generic version of Norvasc to be revoked. The suit was filed at the Regional Trial Court in Makati city. Leonen said the patients have the right to intervene in the case "because of their compelling need for a cheaper generic version of the drug." The patients filed a motion to intervene in a case filed by Pfizer against the government trading company, Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) and the Bureau of Food and Drug (BFAD). Pfizer sued the PITC and BFAD for importing from India samples of the anti-hypertensive drug Norvasc that Pfizer sells both in the Philippines and India. The samples were submitted to BFAD to start the process of registering the imported version of the drug before Pfizer’s patent of Norvasc in the Philippines expires in June 2007. "Intellectual property rights, even as defined by the [World Trade Organization], in areas where public health is involved should balance the monopoly rights of the patent owner and those who need the drug for therapeutic purposes," Leonen said. Leonen said the government rightly imported Norvasc samples from India to start the process of registering the drug and did not violate any patent rule as provided in the International Property Code (IPC). He said the importation of the generic version of the drug is the only proven method to reduce the price of medicines, adding that these safeguards have been implemented in other countries and are permitted under WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement. GMANews.TV with report from the Associated Press