Essential Medicines News

In the United States, the Bayh-Dole Act allowed recipients of federal government research grants to retain intellectual property rights on their inventions. Those rights have some limitations, though, including royalty-free licenses to any government agency, including the right to have a patent practiced “for or on behalf of the United States”.

Two such inventions are the HIV/AIDS drugs stavudine, or d4T, (marketed as Zerit) and ritonavir (marketed as Norvir). Essential Inventions has asked the government to provide it an agreement to manufacture the drugs, using the government’s royalty-free license, for supply to the federal government. According to the letter, stavudine is available for 120 times less in countries with generic versions than as priced on the Federal Supply Schedule.