Interpretation of the Patent Law of the High-priced Drugs of Gleevec in Dying to Survive

Recently, the film "Survival Desire" became popular. This film tells the story of Yong Cheng, who is doing business in Shanghai, buying an Indian imitation of Gleevec, a specific drug for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. The price of this product is 23,500 yuan per box in China and 4,000 yuan in India (note: the name and price of the drug are slightly different from those of the film), and the taking effect is the same as that of Gleevec imported from Switzerland. The price of genuine Gleevec produced in Switzerland is so high that it is called sky-high medicine, which has caused many controversies. Every point of view seems to have some truth. We will explain it from the perspective of patent law. 1. Why is Gleevec a high-priced drug? On the one hand, it is determined by the product cost; on the other hand, it is because the product enjoys the patent right in China. It took 4 1 year from the discovery of chromosomes to the listing of Gleevec drugs! Only more than 10000 compounds were screened out, and pharmaceutical companies also invested a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources in various clinical and follow-up; On the one hand, Gleevec is a specific drug for chronic myeloid leukemia, which determines that its users are a minority group and cannot become a staple food commodity like Coca-Cola. On the other hand, in theory, the term of patent protection is only 20 years at most, but in fact it is far less than 20 years, and some countries even have only 5 years; With less output and short time, enterprises should not only recover costs, but also make profits; It is not difficult to understand that Gleevec has become a high-priced drug in a short time. If there is no patent protection, the company will lose all its money, and the research and development of new drugs will lose its motivation; Without the continuous development of new drugs, Everyone may fall in front of the disease at any time. ......................................................................................................................................... ................. China's patent law stipulates that no unit or individual may exploit its patent without the permission of the patentee, that is, it may not manufacture, use, promise to sell, sell or import its patented products for production and business purposes; Or use its patented method and use, promise to sell, sell or import products directly obtained according to the patented method. The first half of this clause focuses on the product, which is called product patent, and the second half focuses on the production method of the product, which is called method patent. Therefore, within the validity period of the patent, China cannot copy Gleevec; Indian patent law is different from China's: there are no product patents, only method patents. Therefore, gleevec is a legal product as long as it is synthesized by a production method different from that in Switzerland; At present, the Swiss patent has expired, and China can copy Gleevec, or even use Swiss production technology to copy it. Third, summarize that patients need low-priced drugs to save their lives, and enterprises need high-priced drugs to survive; When the two conflict, we can seek new solutions. I'm glad to hear that Gleevec has been included in China's medical insurance, and the unit price has dropped from 23,500 yuan to around 500 yuan, which is acceptable to patients.