Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
From: dbailey@cix.compulink.co.uk (Diane Bailey)
Subject: Indian Firm Produces Cheaper AZT
Reply-To: dbailey@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 16:38:00 +0000


The following would be an important story, but the rhetoric and
the lack of specific details worry me.  Is there a name and
location for the Indian drug company?  I wonder what the price
being charged is ("a quarter of the price charged to patients in
the US" is not very specific - which patients, and after what
degree of mark-up by the medical facility - and it still sounds a
very high price by Indian or Third World standards), and to which
other countries are the supplies being already shipped?  Since
the price is so much lower, why is the Indian government said to
be also subsidising the cost of supplies to other countries?
And, while not condoning the prices charged by
Burroughs-Wellcome, one effect of Western patent laws is to
ensure that what is labelled as AZT is actually the tried and
tested drug; who is certifying what tests have been done on this
differently manufactured substance to ensure that it is AZT?

dbailey@cix.compulink.co.uk

> ** Article: 10275 of misc.activism.** progressive
> ** Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
> ** From: ww%nyxfer%igc.apc.org (Workers World Service)
> ** Subject: Indian Firm Produces Cheaper AZT
> ** Message-ID: <1992Dec25.081656.7475@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
> ** Followup-To: alt.activism.d
> ** Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
> ** Organization: The NY Transfer News Service
> ** Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
> ** Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 08:16:56 GMT
> 
> Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
> 
> Indian company produces cheaper AZT
> 
> By Shishir Thadani
> 
> An Indian drug company recently announced it could produce the
> AIDS-treatment drug AZT and market it at one-quarter the cost
> charged to patients in the U.S. But Burroughs-Wellcome, which
> produces and sells AZT in the U.S., has moved to prevent
> pharmacies around the world from purchasing the Indian drug.
> 
> Burroughs-Wellcome has threatened the Indian company with a
> patent-violation lawsuit. But Indian patent laws are different
> from those in the U.S. Drugs cannot be patented in India; only
> the chemical processes used to manufacture drugs can be patented.
> 
> The Indian company has an original manufacturing process. In
> fact, a company spokesperson said the firm could compete in the
> U.S. market and thus begin higher-volume production.
> 
> The drug is already being produced and many Third World countries
> have expressed interest in purchasing it. Some are considering
> setting up local manufacturing plants with the Indian company's
> assistance.
> 
> As a goodwill gesture, the Indian government has sent subsidized
> shipments of the drug to other Third World countries. Public
> health officials in Brazil, Thailand and some East African
> countries are following this development with great interest.
> 
> But the U.S. government and its imperialist allies in Europe and
> Japan are bringing tremendous pressure on the Indian government
> to change its more progressive patent laws to mirror those in the
> U.S.
> 
> Washington's tight patent laws in particular retard technological
> development and competition and hurt consumers. This is
> especially true in the health-care field, and in the case of AIDS
> and other life-threatening illnesses this issue becomes a matter
> of life and death.
> 
> If the U.S. government succeeds in its effort to stymie Indian
> production of the drug, it would drastically increase the death
> rate because very few Indians are able to purchase drugs at the
> monopoly prices charged by the imperialist drug cartels.
> 
> Health care costs in the U.S. are astronomical, in large part
> because of the patent laws and trade restrictions against
> importing drugs from Third World countries. Shouldn't people with
> AIDS in the U.S. also be permitted to benefit from technological
> developments taking place in India or any other Third World
> country?
> 
> (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
> source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
> St., New York, NY 10010; email: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org; "workers"
> on PeaceNet; on Internet: "workers@mcimail.com".)
> 
> 
>  NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
>  Modem: 718-448-2358  *  Internet: nytransfer@igc.apc.org
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