IP: Re: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date:         Sun, 21 Oct 2001 13:05:31 EDT
> From: Rich Wiggins <wiggins () msu edu>
> Subject:      IP: Re: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
>
> Dave,
>
> Canada is not nationalizing the Bayer patent; it certainly isn't
> nationalizing an industry.
>
> The health minister, Allan Rock, placed an order for a generic
> version of Cipro from a Canadian drug maker, Apotex.  Canada now
> will enter negotiations with Bayer and may cancel the order.  Apotex
> also asserts that it can make its generic Cipro without violating
> Bayer's patents.  Apotex offered their generic for $1.50 CDN versus
> Bayer's list price of $2.00 per pill.
>
> NOTHING has been nationalized in this case. The prime minister was
> out of the country; the parliament did not act on this; this was
> a unilateral and probably reckless act by one minister.
>
> See the attached article in the Toronto Globe and Mail
> explaining the situation.  The assertion that the Canadian
> action is akin to a socialist country nationalizing privately
> owned industry is unsupportable.  Minister Rock is the subject
> of considerable ridicule for placing the generic order in
> the absence of a declared emergency and in the presence of
> Bayer's statement that it can deliver what Canada requires.
> It is likely that Bayer will be paid royalties or the
> generic order will be canceled.
>
> I think in these times, before people launch into long
> philosophical treatises about the meaning of an international story,
> they should acquaint themselves with the basic facts.  Think of
> Allan Rock as Alexander ("I'm in charge") Haig or Earl Butz, not
> Lenin or Castro.
>
> (I just spent a week in the Canadian Rockies deprived of my New York Times,
> so I happened to follow this story carefully.)
>
> /rich
>
> >From Saturday's Globe and Mail:
>
>  http://www.globeandmail.com
>  ---------------------------
>
> globeandmail.com, Saturday, October 20, 2001
> Ottawa weighs paying Bayer after ignoring Cipro patent
>
> By SHAWN McCARTHY and LEONARD ZEHR
> >From Saturday's Globe and Mail
> BREAKING NEWS
>
>
> Ottawa is considering compensating Bayer Canada after ignoring its own Patent
>  Act in its rush to protect Canadians from anthrax  a scourge that has yet to
>  emerge in this country.
>
>  On Thursday, Health Canada ordered emergency supplies of the anti-anthrax
>  medication ciprofloxacin from a generic manufacturer even though Bayer still
>  holds the patent. Bayer officials went on the offensive yesterday, 
> saying the
>  company has millions of tablets of its anti-anthrax medication, marketed 
> under
>  the name Cipro, in Toronto warehouses and has been willing and able to make
>  those supplies available to Ottawa.
>
>
> Bayer general manager Phil Blake said his company was prepared to deliver the
>  one million pills sought by Health Canada but was never asked. "At no 
> stage did
>  we tell Health Canada that we were unable to supply Cipro."
>
>  Health Minister Allan Rock said his officials believed Bayer was unable to
>  deliver the amount of mediation required, and so turned to Toronto-based 
> Apotex
>  Inc., which produces a knock-off version of Cipro that it has not been 
> able to
>  market because Bayer holds the patent until 2004.
>
>  One senior Health official said that, while Bayer had the supplies, 
> officials
>  had questions about whether it was willing to supply them on the "terms and
>  conditions" Ottawa was specifying.
>
>  Mr. Rock would not say whether he will stick with the Apotex order now that
>  Bayer has said it has enough Cipro. The federal government could have 
> sought an
>  exemption to the patent legislation on the grounds that it was for a "public
>  and non-commercial use," but officials did not make such a request when they
>  placed the $1.3-million Apotex order.
>
>  Federal officials are to meet with Bayer next week, and likely will 
> offer the
>  German-based pharmaceutical giant compensation.
>
>  Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray ducked questions on whether Mr. Rock or
>  officials had broken the Patent Act. "I'm not going to give a legal 
> opinion. As
>  far as I'm aware, the department and its minister acted in good faith to 
> take
>  steps to protect the health of Canadians," he said. "I wouldn't be 
> personally
>  surprised if a settlement for Bayer was part of the discussion, but I'm not
>  aware of all the topics" on the agenda of next week's meeting.
>
>  He played down concerns that his officials induced Apotex to break the 
> Patent
>  Act. "It is important that we respect the Patent Act and I think 
> whatever we do
>  has to be done lawfully, but that's not the real issue as far as I'm
>  concerned," he said. "The real issue is whether we are in a position to meet
>  our responsibility  my responsibility as Minister of Health  which is to get
>  the medications on hand that we may need in the unlikely event that 
> something
>  occurs."
>
>  Apotex president Jack Kay said, "For once, the government did the 
> prudent thing
>  and acted quickly."


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