The pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), whose offices in
Thailand and India have been targeted by demonstrations against its
attempts to patent a new anti-Aids drug, has said many countries have
failed to handle the Aids epidemic because of poverty and lack of
political will, not because of the patent system.
The protesters in Bangkok had said a patent on Combid-Combivir would
give GSK a monopoly on Combid, which is part of standard treatment for
HIV and Aids in Thailand and is made at present by the Government
Pharmaceutical Organization in a generic version at an affordable
price.
They have told the Thai government that the result of a GSK patent
would be that the price of the drug would rise and patients would be
severely disadvantaged.
However, GSK had decided to abandon its patent application before the
demonstrations. The company said that focusing on patents in dealing
with the challenge from HIV and Aids is ‘misguided and
counterproductive’.
A GSK statement said: ‘New medicines and vaccines to address the
challenge of HIV and Aids are desperately needed and the patent system
fundamentally stimulates the necessary research and development.’
