On 12 November 2018 – The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has announced a new, royalty-free licence agreement with AbbVie for Glecaprevir / Pibrentasvir (G/P). The agreement was launched at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) The Liver Meeting 2018 in San Francisco.

This is an approved treatment for the people suffering from chronic hepatitis C by WHO (World Health Organization).

The treatment of hepatitis C is not easily accessible or affordable for many countries.

“It is Important collaboration will ensure affordable hepatitis C treatment options in low- and middle-income countries”

This collaboration will enable the generic production of a higher quality treatment for the patient in low and middle-income countries. People will be able to access the affordable quality hep c medicines.

This deal allows quality-assured manufactures to develop and sell generic version of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P).

Presently, 71 million people have been diagnosed with hepatitis C worldwide, mostly in low and middle-income countries. It is an essential step that bring more affordable treatment in those countries.

This joint venture permits the quality-assured companies to manufacture and sell medicines made of using G/P in the lowest rate of price to the hep c sufferer.

Currently, 95 countries and four territories are incorporated into this process of agreement. The MPP calls manufacturers under this region on the expression of Interest for making generic medicines of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir and selling them on an affordable price.

For more details on this visit: –www.medicinespatentpool.org

Because of being non-restricted this licence will bring many more drug manufacturing companies forward, and their competitive nature will eventually make the prices fall.

The greater amount of companies will start to use glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) in their medicines the number of the option will flourish making them cheap and affordable. Though, the manufacturer has to be eligible for using the Royalty- Free licence to make drugs.

G/P is an all-oral, once-daily, pan-genotypic combination regimen and was originally approved in 2017.

It has achieved high cure (SVR12) rates of 98 per cent in treatment-naïve non-cirrhotic patients across all six genotypes of the virus.

It is recommended by the WHO as  the first-line treatment for eight weeks in treatment- naïve non-cirrhotic patients. Treatment-naïve patients with compensated liver cirrhosis require a 12-week treatment course.

About Medicine Patent Pool?

Medicine Patent Pool is a Public Health organisation supported by the United Nations.

It helps the Low and middle income countries (LMICs) to get essential and rare medicines at the lowest cost.

Their crucial motive is to make progress towards the easy access of quality drugs in low- and middle-income countries.

MAVYRET (glecaprevir/pibrentasvir) by Abbvie:-

MAVYRET is a drug prescribed to treat Hepatitis C in adults for all the six genotypes. FDA approved it in 2017.

This drug is made of using glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) elements and has shown its effectiveness on patients positively.

Personal View:-

Gilead is another company that has achieved success in treating hepatitis C for years.

Abbvie hep c product has shown its effectiveness in less time of eight weeks treatment on patients.

These two companies are the biggest competitor to each other in treating HCV. Though, Abbvie sells their drugs comparatively at a lower price than Gilead.

As per recent news, Gilead is going to launch the generic version of their blockbuster HCV drugs in the US market. Expectantly Abbvie is ready to give a fight to Gilead in this regime also.

It made us give a thought on what can be Abbvie’s next move to lead.

 

Courtesy: medicinespatentpool.org