A health advocacy group voiced its opposition Tuesday to a patent application for hepatitis C medicine, Sofosbuvir, filed with the Department of Intellectual Property's Patent Office, which the group said was unjustified. On Tuesday, the group submitted to the office a document opposing the patent application filed by a representative of Gilead Sciences, an American biopharmaceutical company, on Sofosbuvir. The group said this particular patent application should not be approved because it requests a patent on medical treatment and therapies for hepatitis C, which is against Section 9 of the Thai patent law. Chalermsak Kittitrakul, a drug access campaign officer with the Aids Access Foundation, said up to 13 patent applications were filed solely on Sofosbuvir-related formulas. "Similar patent opposition has arisen in other countries as well, which prompted the patent offices of Egypt, China, Germany and Brazil to reject several patent applications filed with them on Sofosbuvir," he said.

Source: Bangkok Post April 11, 2017 23:26 UTC