Pharma firm slammed for choosing profits over people
Dec
7
Written by:
07/12/2011 16:11
Johnson & Johnson refusing to negotiate over HIV drug patents
Johnson & Johnson are “putting a huge number of lives at risk” by refusing to negotiate with the Medicines Patent Pool, an organisation set up in 2010 to make HIV drugs cheaper, better and more accessible. In an article by the New Internationalist (NI), patents held by pharmaceutical companies were said to be a significant reason why more than nine million people in the global South can't get the HIV medicines they need.
Johnson & Johnson is said to hold patents on 3 new HIV drugs, and “as some medicines are built from several patents from different sources, the company’s refusal to play ball means some cheap drugs can’t even be made with patents that have been licensed to the Pool by others.”
NI say joining the Pool would have little impact on the company's profits, but would reduce the cost of HIV treatments from $1,000 to less than $100 per patient per year. HIV treatments are said to be an effective way of preventing the spread of the virus.
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