Nature: The liver
disease hepatitis C is the new battleground for lawsuits intended to
slash the cost of life-saving medicines. In February alone, five suits
were filed in India and Argentina claiming that the latest class of
antiviral drugs does not warrant the 20-year patent monopoly that
manufacturers have sought in those countries. In
the 2000s, successful challenges to patents on HIV drugs gave poor
nations access to high-quality ‘generic’ copies of the medications at
rock-bottom prices. Now, buoyed by that success, activists are applying
the same strategy to a fresh wave of hepatitis C drugs. They note that
the standard 12-week course of treatment costs more than the average
annual salary for millions of people in middle-income countries.
