PRNewswire - November 29, 2002

London-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) claims ownership of the drug, which was initially created in 1964 in the United States as a possible cancer drug, and first shown to be effective against HIV by NIH researchers in the mid 1980's.

"It is evil to possess a drug that you don't own and which can save lives and then deny it to the very dying people who need it," said Kramer. "That is evil and that is murder. It is evil to possess many anti-HIV treatments that can save lives and then deny them to the very dying people who cannot afford them. That is evil and that is murder."

The lawsuit, brought by U.S-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and endorsed by AIDS Therapeutic Treatment Now (ATTN), an international advocacy coalition of over 500 groups*, was filed after the discovery that Burroughs Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline) lied to the United States Department of Commerce Patent and Trademark Office in 1986 in order to secure the patent on AZT. Burroughs neither invented AZT, nor showed AZT's efficacy against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), yet claimed to the Patent Office that "we have now discovered that ... [AZT] is useful for the treatment of AIDS ... " when it filed for and secured the patent.

"I have hated the dreadful, malign, and evil GlaxoSmithKline since it was the dreadful, malign and evil Burroughs Wellcome," added Kramer. "Burroughs Wellcome was a hateful and evil company from the first day Mr. Burroughs met Mr. Wellcome, from which day they went on to spend their major energies trying to steal the company from each other just as their descendents are trying to steal AZT from the American taxpayer who paid for it."

The initial patent application for AZT and its medicinal use against HIV was rejected by United States Department of Commerce Patent and Trademark Office Primary Examiner Ethel G. Love on January 9, 1986. On July 14, 1986, an attorney for Burroughs (GSK) paid a $390 dollar fee-roughly the cost today of one patient's one year supply of life-saving generic versions of Glaxo's $10,000 AIDS medications-to respond to the rejection and amend and secure a patent on AZT. In response, the pharmaceutical company's attorney Donald Brown stated: "With all due respect to the Examiner's allegations of obviousness, it is quite apparent that the NIH and others skilled in the art have been searching for a drug that will work, all apparently with little success to date."

In fact, the NIH had been sent samples of AZT ("Compound S" as it was called) by Burroughs for testing. NIH scientist Dr. Hiroaki Mitsuya performed tests in mid-February, 1985 that confirmed that AZT or "Compound S" was active against the HIV virus. Burroughs officials were informed of the results by telephone on February 20, 1985-a full seventeen months before Burroughs filed its response claiming that the "NIH and others ... have been searching ... with little success to date."

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) controls 40% of the lucrative U.S. AIDS drug market.

Glaxo's current worldwide market for its AIDS medications is estimated to be approximately $5 billion dollars annually. Combivir and Trizivir, Glaxo's best selling AIDS drugs today, are reformulations of existing AIDS drugs that offer patients the convenience of two-in-one and three-in-one pill dosing.

The lawsuit seeks to invalidate GSK's U.S. patent on AZT and other subsequent HIV drugs that include AZT as a component. The lawsuit was filed against GlaxoSmithKline and related companies earlier this year in the United States Federal Court for Central District of California (Western Division, Case No. 02-5223 TJH Ex).

*Worldwide support for the patent lawsuit against GSK includes:

Coalition Gaie et Lesbienne du Quebec - Canada

Nadir HIV Treatment Group - Italy

AGIHAS (PLWHA Support Group) - Latvia

Maryknoll AIDS Task Force - Peru

Grupo Portugues de Activistas sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA - Portugal

FIT Foundation - Spain

Network of HIV/AIDS Communities - South Africa

The Names Foundation Suriname - Suriname

Prayer Palace Christian Centre - Uganda

SOURCE AIDS Therapeutic Treatment Now

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