"KEI applauds the decision of the High Court in Chennai to reject Novartis' challenge to India's patent system. Much of the credit goes to civil society groups in India for mobilizing opposition to the lawsuit. Everyone gives thanks to groups like Lawyers Collective. Other groups such as MSF have also done important work in mobilizing support from the international community.

Novartis is complaining that the decision today will undermine R&D by claiming that it needs strong patent protection in India for R&D.  India has more poor people than the combined population of Europe and the United States. We cannot depend on high drug prices in poor countries to stimulate R&D.

Novartis and other companies should be looking at new business models that do not present a conflict between innovation and access. Everyone should be looking towards the efforts of the WHO to propose new R&D funding mechanisms and incentives that do not rely on high drug prices. "

FFI: James Love, +1.202.332.2670, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it