Back home in Delhi, my neighbour aunty always used to boast about the perfect family that her father had raised. He had two happily married daughters and a son. The family's Diwali used to last for at least three days, and same was the case with Holi. Five years ago, the children had celebrated their parents' fifty-year anniversary with a lot of pomp and show. The celebrations were nothing short of grand, considering their middle-class background.
In December last, my mother told me that aunty's father had been diagnosed with cancer. He had just a few weeks left. Doctors gave hope of some extra lifetime if he is immediately shifted to a cancer hospital. His total radiation and chemo expenses for one month were to come to approx Rs 10 lakh. This was after all the benefits he could have claimed being an ex-central government employee.
Looking at the 'perfect' family background and well-earning children, I was sure the poor old man would live to see one or two more Diwalis. But for him, even the very next Holi didn't dawn. He passed away towards January end. His children didn't bother to admit him to the cancer hospital. The expenses were too much for them.
When Supreme Court denied Novartis a patent for Glivec in India a day before, I could not help thinking about aunty's late father. I do not know which cancer he had, nor the drugs he was supposed to take. But I am sure that he would have taken the cheaper Indian version of most of the cancer drugs that were prescribed for him. Even then his children did not have the heart or the pocket to shell out the money for their dad.
As far as my knowledge goes, or whatever I could gather from the papers, Novartis wanted to patent its drug called Glivec in our country. This drug is supposed to be a miracle cure for a type of blood cancer. Indian manufacturers too produce the same drug and sell it at a much cheaper rate. While Novartis sells it for about Rs 1.2 lakh a month, local cost is Rs 8,000. Had Novartis been awarded this patent, local guys would have to stop manufacturing this drug. As a result, the cost of treating this blood cancer would have shot up by many thousands or even lakhs.
Novartis calls its defeat in the Supreme Court a big blow. It says the SC decision would affect innovative drug discovery. But what use is that innovation which doesn't reach the people who need it? The affluent class that can afford Novartis' Glivec @ Rs 1.2 lakh a month, can also travel to countries like the UK and the US for treatment to avail those innovative drugs. Most Indians who can't go outside for treatment, can't also afford Glivec.
Just imagine, a middle class family let their father die because they could not afford his cancer treatment. If manufacturers like Novartis are given their patents, how many more fathers will have to be sacrificed.
In December last, my mother told me that aunty's father had been diagnosed with cancer. He had just a few weeks left. Doctors gave hope of some extra lifetime if he is immediately shifted to a cancer hospital. His total radiation and chemo expenses for one month were to come to approx Rs 10 lakh. This was after all the benefits he could have claimed being an ex-central government employee.
Looking at the 'perfect' family background and well-earning children, I was sure the poor old man would live to see one or two more Diwalis. But for him, even the very next Holi didn't dawn. He passed away towards January end. His children didn't bother to admit him to the cancer hospital. The expenses were too much for them.
When Supreme Court denied Novartis a patent for Glivec in India a day before, I could not help thinking about aunty's late father. I do not know which cancer he had, nor the drugs he was supposed to take. But I am sure that he would have taken the cheaper Indian version of most of the cancer drugs that were prescribed for him. Even then his children did not have the heart or the pocket to shell out the money for their dad.
As far as my knowledge goes, or whatever I could gather from the papers, Novartis wanted to patent its drug called Glivec in our country. This drug is supposed to be a miracle cure for a type of blood cancer. Indian manufacturers too produce the same drug and sell it at a much cheaper rate. While Novartis sells it for about Rs 1.2 lakh a month, local cost is Rs 8,000. Had Novartis been awarded this patent, local guys would have to stop manufacturing this drug. As a result, the cost of treating this blood cancer would have shot up by many thousands or even lakhs.
Novartis calls its defeat in the Supreme Court a big blow. It says the SC decision would affect innovative drug discovery. But what use is that innovation which doesn't reach the people who need it? The affluent class that can afford Novartis' Glivec @ Rs 1.2 lakh a month, can also travel to countries like the UK and the US for treatment to avail those innovative drugs. Most Indians who can't go outside for treatment, can't also afford Glivec.
Just imagine, a middle class family let their father die because they could not afford his cancer treatment. If manufacturers like Novartis are given their patents, how many more fathers will have to be sacrificed.
