AEGiS-AP: Canada's High Crt Upholds Glaxo Wellcome AIDS Drug Patent

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Canada's High Crt Upholds Glaxo Wellcome AIDS Drug Patent

Associated Press - December 5, 2002

OTTAWA (AP)--Canada's Supreme Court has upheld the Canadian patent held by Glaxo Wellcome Inc. on AZT, one of the most important drugs for combatting the effects of AIDS.

Two generic Toronto drug manufacturers - Novopharm Ltd. (X.NVO) and Apotex Inc. (X.AOX) - challenged the patent by claiming the right to market cheaper generic copies of AZT.

Justice Ian Binnie, who wrote the unanimous ruling issued Thursday, noted that Glaxo's pricing policies for AZT have "generated serious controversies in some countries, particularly in the developing world." Binnie called such issues irrelevant to the patent question, saying the company had a legitimate scientific claim and was entitled to legal protection.

Glaxo Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline) (GSK) is the Canadian subsidiary of the British pharmaceutical giant of the same name. Although Glaxo didn't discover AZT, it holds the patent because it established the drug as an AIDS treatment.

Binnie rejected claims by Novopharm and Apotex that Glaxo appropriated U.S. research for its own profit, saying the U.S. research was crucial but Glaxo provided the "inventive concept" of using AZT to combat AIDS.

He also rejected claims that Glaxo applied for a patent without sufficient evidence of its effectiveness against AIDS.

The test at the patent level is whether there is a "rational basis for making a sound prediction," Binnie wrote, concluding Glaxo met the test in its application to patent AZT for use against AIDS.

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