Pharmasyntez will continue to fight for the abolition of the patent for sofosbuvir

Pharmaceutical company pharmasyntez plans to appeal the decision of the Court for intellectual property rights (SIP), which confirmed the patent protection of the drug sofosbuvir, developed by the American company Gilead. About it reported in a press release of the Committee on social ownership and the creative industries of the Russian Union of Industrialists and entrepreneurs.

Sofosbuvir is a highly efficient drug for the treatment of viral hepatitis C under a license agreement with Gilead to its production and sale in Russia is company “Pharmstandard”. The court’s decision allows her to remain the sole supplier of sofosbuvir in the Russian market.

Earlier “Pharmasyntez” has managed to successfully challenge the Rospatent patent Gilead for chemical substance sofosbuvir. Then American farmproizvoditelej tried to get in Rospatent patent on a mixture of stereoisomers of sofosbuvir. This was denied, however, the intellectual property rights Court sided with Gilead, reversed the decision of Rospatent on refusal in issuance of additional patents and extended the protection of sofoluwe to 2031.

According to the representative of “Pharmasyntez”, the Deputy of the RSPP’s Committee on intellectual property and the creative industries Anatoly Semenov, the company will continue the struggle for the abolition of the patent and will appeal to the constitutional court.

The number of patients with viral hepatitis B and C in Russia is estimated at several million people. Despite the advent of effective antiviral drugs to their might only a small number of patients, the main reason for the limited availability of the therapy is its high cost, the report says. According to official figures, from the effects of hepatitis C annually in Russia die of 15.6 thousand people.

Retail price original packaging of sofosbuvir, according to the report, is 137 thousand rubles, three-month course of the drug is 411 thousand. Generic sofosbuvir in countries where they are licensed, are several times cheaper.

Sofosbuvir developed by Gilead provides the opportunity for the production of cheap generics of the drug in developing countries, including in the countries of the EEU, Russia, however, this category does not apply. At the same time, the report says of the Union, concerted actions of business, public organizations and governments have achieved significant reductions in the price of sofosbuvir and in some developed countries, such as Spain, Italy or the UK.