The small victory of the Net on the path to abolishing the patent for an important drug for HIV patients

 

The Network of PLWH has put an end to the unjustified dragging of the court proceedings on a vital issue for dozens of thousands of Ukrainians. On July 18, the High Economic Court of Ukraine overturned the ruling of the Kyiv Economic Court of Appeal, whereby the case consideration on the abolition of AbbVie Inc. monopoly on the ARV drug lopinavir/ritonavir was postponed for six months.

In May 2017 the court postponed hearings in the case until November 16, 2017 at the initiative of AbbVie Inc.  The Network lodged an appeal against this ruling, considering it another attempt of AbbVie Inc.  to delay the proceedings in this case and uphold its monopoly on the medication for the time when the proceedings in the case are suspended.

“The abolition of the monopoly of lopinavir/ritonavir will contribute to a threefold reduction in drug prices, which would potentially save about $ 6 million annually for the purchase of ARVs. This amount will suffice to enroll additional 125,000 patients on treatment,” said Mykyta Trofimenko, intellectual property legal advisor of the Network of PLWH.

Thus, the next hearing in this case is expected to take place as soon as in August and the proceedings on the Network’s lawsuit on abolishing AbbVie Inc. monopoly for lopinavir/ritonavir will be resumed.

We believe that the panel of Kyiv Economic Court of Appeal with judges S. Ostapenko and V. Panteliyenko, chaired by S. Sotnikov, will support the patients this time.