AbbVie Hepatitis C Treatment Patents Challenged In India For Evergreening

By David Branigan for Intellectual Property Watch

The Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK) and the Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) filed an opposition with the Indian Patent Office in New Delhi on 21 July to prevent the granting of a patent to AbbVie on pibrentasvir, which forms part of Mavyret, their drug used to treat hepatitis C, according to a press release.

I-MAK and DNP+ argue in the press release that pibrentasvir is based on obvious and existing science, and does not represent an innovation, but rather an attempt to establish a monopoly that will limit access to hepatitis C treatment.

“If unmerited patents make pibrentasvir unavailable and unaffordable, millions of people around the world will go without treatments they need against hepatitis C,” said Tahir Amin, co-founder and co-executive director at I-MAK, as quoted in the press release.

The I-MAK and DNP+ challenge is based on the following grounds, according to the press release:

1. “Earlier patents filed by AbbVie itself and Enanta Pharmaceuticals already disclose compounds that are similar in structure and useful for treating HCV. The slight changes made to the PIB compound over these earlier patents should be considered obvious, making the PIB patent unmerited under India’s legal standards.
2. AbbVie has failed to provide any comparative data in its patent application that is sufficient to meet India’s legal requirements that a new form of an existing compound, which PIB is when compared to AbbVie’s own earlier patented compounds, shows an enhancement of efficacy. Under India’s legal requirements, such patents should be determined not patentable.”

“The Indian Patent Office should apply the letter of the law and recognize the unmerited grounds for a patent on PIB,” Amin said in the release.