Former Swiss Prez Tongue Lashes Novartis
4 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // February 16th, 2007 // 7:50 am
Ruth Dreifuss accused the drugmaker of trying to intimidate India in its patent case there over Gleevec. Novartis is appealing a rejection of its patent application and also challenging a section of India’s new patent law, which doesn’t grant patents for changes to existing drugs.
“By attacking the Indian law of 2005, Novartis is seeking to prevent not only this country but all others from making use of the flexibility contained within the agreements on intellectual property rights,” Dreifuss told journalists.
“It seems to me to be an attempt at intimidation, the consequences of which go way beyond the Indian case.”
Dreifuss is hard to ignore. She chaired the 2004-2006 World Health Organisation commission on intellectual property rights, innovation and public health. And she’s met with Margaret Chan, the new WHO director general, to discuss the case.
Novartis is pressing ahead, of course, and issued this statement: “Only if patents are respected can research-based organizations continue making long-term, risky investments in new medicines for patients.”
The legal battle may not be over, but Novartis is clearly losing the public relations war. But Dan Vasella doesn’t appear to be listening.
[tags]Gleevec, Novartis, Patents[/tags]
he knows
Well things are really evolving into Vasella and his supporters and apologists at Novartis against the World. When the Swiss former pres. is venting her frastration with thier own big pharma accusing it of doing the wrong thing, one knows that the World is right not Novartis. But he is standing firm for he may be confident that the law will be on his side and that he and his co. will “win”. Dam the rest of us, dam the reputation of the co. that took almost 200 years to build up. Perhaps he does not care of the reputation that came from Sandoz and Ciba/Geigy side for Novartis basically does not want to do anything with its past. Poor Swiss people too. They are the most decent and honorable people with highest of culture and compassion for the rest of the world and for the poor too. They have to live through this and watch the world casting an evil eye on them and “the Swiss company’ for doing such nasty thing to one of the poorest countries in the world.’ However, those who do think that Swiss have to do anything with this, are mistaken. The Novartis although based in Basel is hardly populated with swiss employees. Maybe a cleaning lady here and there, correction secretary here and there but the real power is with those top performers that are collected from all the afiliates around the world. To work in Basel HQ you need to be more than Swiss citizen. you need to be top performer and ruthless to the 10th. That place is not for fainthearted or those who would show any compasion or undestanding for the common good. Only the bottom line is what counts.
So who can stop them?
ed
Well, I think the bottom line, for Novartis execs, is the bottom line, no matter what their individual nationality or ethnicity. Putting aside everything else for the moment, what’s surprising is that Novarits has done such a poor job anticipating the terrible beating its corporate image is taking over this row. You could see it coming the proverbial mile away. But it’s likely a calculated decision. Investors may not react the bad press itself. And people are unlikely to stop using their meds simply because Novartis is the manufacturer. So perhaps Vasella et al are willing to take a few hits. But it still remains possible that the Novartis team will have miscalculated the extent to which this will leave a stain. It will be interesting to see how heated public opinion becomes if Novartis wins the patent fight in India.
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