The Community Advisory Board in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA CAB), established by East Europe and Central Asia Union of people living with HIV (ECUO) and International Treatment Preparedness Coalition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ITPCru) published an open letter to Gilead expressing concerns regarding the recently announced license agreement for Sofosbuvir between Gilead and several Indian generic companies.
In different media publications it was published that with this license Gilead is seeking to provide access to Sofosbuvir for all people who need it in middle- and low-income countries. But according to the announced terms of the license, almost all the middle-income countries in EECA region hardly hit by HCV epidemic are to be excluded from its geographic scope (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine). Thus, the license will prohibit major Indian generic companies from manufacturing the life-saving medicine for most countries in the EECA region.
From its side EECA CAB is ready to provide comprehensive justification based on epidemiological, economic and political data from our region in order to build effective dialogue on including EECA countries into the list of countries in the voluntary license where generic versions of Sofosbuvir can be sold.
17.09.2014