On Sept. 19th, 2007, the Canadian Patent Office (CIPO) granted an authorisation to the Canadian generic manufacturer Apotex Inc. for the production of a certain volume of APO-TRIOVIR for export into Rwanda. This HIV medicament is a fixed dose combination of three active ingredients, one of which is nevirapine patented for Boehringer Ingelheim. Boehringer Ingelheim not only does not object to the grant of this authorization under the CAMD (Canada's Access to Medicines Regime) but does support the CIPO decision in this respect.
It has to be noted in fact that, in accordance with its nevirapine Access Policy, Boehringer Ingelheim had offered Apotex as WHO pre-qualified manufacturer already in July 2007 a Non Assert Declaration. Adhering to its policy to support the supply of WHO pre-qualified nevirapine containing products to developing countries and to contribute to the global efforts to fight AIDS in these countries, Boehringer Ingelheim in addition had offered to Apotex a royalty free production license for Canada with the option to broaden the country scope and volume beyond the current authorization by the CIPO. In this context it must be stated that Apotex ignored Boehringer Ingelheim's license offer, rejected it for reasons that we do not know, and preferred to file a request for a compulsory license with the CIPO.
Boehringer Ingelheim stands to its commitment irrespective of some misleading press statements that have been published in the context of this compulsory license granted by the Canadian Patent Office.
About Boehringer Ingelheim
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world's 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 137 affiliates in 47 countries and 38,400 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.
In 2006, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 10.6 billion Euro while spending one fifth of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and development. For further information, please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.