Indian Patent Office to hear HIV drug patent claims

Business: India’s patent office will hear a challenge to US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences’ patent claims for HIV prevention drug lenacapavir. Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust, a civil society organisation that works with vulnerable groups, said the patent application could impact access to affordable treatment in India and hinder access to affordable generic medicines. The group claimed that the Indian Patent Office will hear Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust’s objection to Gilead’s application on September 19, 2024. The motion argues that Gilead’s claims about lanacapavir are not innovative and violate Indian patent law, which allegedly prevents the drug from being “evergreen” by making minor changes to an existing one.

At the centre of the debate is lanacapavir, an injectable HIV drug given twice a year, which has been shown to be more effective at preventing HIV than existing oral treatments. According to the United Nations agency UNAIDS, if lencapavir becomes widely available, it could play a key role in eliminating AIDS. Gilead has filed a patent in India for the choline and sodium salt forms of lencapavir. If these patents are approved, Gilead’s monopoly on this drug in India will extend until 2038. Sankalp and other public health advocacy groups argue that the granting of such patents hinders the development of more affordable generic drugs and limits access to millions of people who need them. “Slow down and stop the production of world-saving generic medicines in India.” “The availability of affordable medicines is a matter of life and death and the Indian Patent Office has the power to decide it.”