To save lives, Johnson & Johnson should jump into the patent pool of suppling HIV Drugs in poor countries

The high cost of HIV drugs puts patients in poor countries — where the virus is most widespread — at a huge disadvantage.

Many must still take older, more toxic medicines no longer used in the United States. And when patients build up a resistance to the drugs they’re already using, they don’t have the option of switching to a new medication.

That’s why world health advocates came up with the idea of a “patent pool.” It’s meant to drive down costs to improve access to newer HIV drugs, including medicines for children. Participating drug makers can make their patents more widely available to generic manufacturers in developing countries, in exchange for royalty fees. The increased competition would greatly reduce drug costs.

J&J Generics Deal May Speed AIDS Drug Access in Africa, India

January 28, 2011, 2:03 PM ESTBy Alex Nussbaum

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson struck the first deal to license an experimental AIDS drug before regulatory approval, reigniting debate over how much companies should do to speed access to HIV treatments in poor countries.

J&J’s Tibotec Pharmaceuticals unit has agreed to let three generic drugmakers provide copies of TMC278 in sub-Saharan Africa, India and parts of Asia if it’s approved by regulators, the company said yesterday in a statement. If past AIDS drugs are a guide, that could make the pill available for a hundredth of the price that customers pay in the United States, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the New York-based AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.