Business Mirror -  May 14, 2007

By Butch Fernandez
Reporter

THE cancellation of the patent on hypertension drug Norvasc in the Philippines could benefit at least 7.76 million hypertensive Filipinos, Sen. Mar Roxas said over the weekend.

Roxas backed the clamor led by the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) to scrap the Philippine patent of Pfizer over Norvasc after a US court handed down a decision to cancel the same in the United States.

Roxas pointed out that hypertensive patients cannot afford to miss their expensive maintenance drugs even for a day. “With the cancellation of the patent over Norvasc, more than seven million hypertension victims will benefit through reduced prices,” he added.

He said the government, by canceling the Pfizer patent for Norvasc, may then undertake without legal impediment the parallel importation of cheaper versions of amlodipine besylate, or Norvasc.

Eventually, he added, local generics manufacturers may also be able to put in the market cheaper versions of the antihypertension drug, which is manufactured by the multinational giant Pfizer.

Roxas noted that the wholesale price of a 5-milligram (mg) tablet of Norvasc in the Philippines is P41.41 when other countries sell the same drug at much lower prices, as in India where patients can buy a 5-mg tablet at only P5.77.

The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has invalidated the patent of Pfizer over amlodipine besylate, under the brand name of Norvasc. The court has deemed that the drug was “obvious,” and not novel, Roxas noted.

Following this lead, the PITC last week asked the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to cancel the patent held by Pfizer on Norvasc on the ground that the drug was not new, novel or inventive and was instead “contrary to public order and morality.”

“I support PITC in its petition to nullify the patent of Pfizer over Norvasc. It has been proven in the United States that the drug was never new or novel and did not deserve a patent in the first place,” he said.

Roxas said the decision of the highest US appellate court is consistent with his proposed amendments to the Intellectual Property Code, or Senate Bill 2263. The Senate has passed the bill on third reading, and the House is expected to pass its counterpart, House Bill 6035, when session resumes on June 4. The 13th Congress ends on June 8.

“Clearly, we are on the right track in our reforms to the patents of pharmaceuticals. We should thus not deprive Filipinos of the same legal coverage for quality affordable medicines,” he said.

Citing statistics from the Department of Health, Roxas reported that over 7.76 million Filipinos, or more than 10 percent of the population, suffer from hypertension. “Diseases of the heart and of the vascular system remain the two top causes of death in the Philippines,” he said, adding that hypertension is the fifth “leading cause of morbidity.”