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Article: Case studies of Big Pharma's sharp practice: Turf wars.(Health Hazard)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- November 1, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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UNTIL 1999 pharma giant Novartis enjoyed a monopoly for the drug cyclosporine, used to prevent organ rejection in kidney, liver and heart transplant patients.
But when rivals started producing generic versions, and selling them at a fraction of the price to cash-strapped public-health authorities in Latin America, Novartis went into overdrive.
It began legal proceedings to force Abbott Laboratories to withdraw their generic version, Gengraf, from the market, claiming that Abbott was using microemulsion technology invented and patented by Novartis.
Then, rumours started flying that the generic drugs could be dangerous, even lethal to patients. ...