Two health advocacy groups have written to the Indian government asking it to revoke patents given to Gilead Sciences for the drug Remdesivir so it can be distributed more fairly to coronavirus patients around the world, particularly in poorer nations. To expand its access, Gilead said this week it had signed non-exclusive licensing pacts with five generic drug makers based in India and Pakistan, allowing them to make and sell Remdesivir for 127 countries. Gilead filed a patent application for Remdesivir in India in 2015, which was granted on February 18, 2020.

The drug is currently in the clinical trial stage and has not yet received marketing approval. But health access groups say the pacts mean cheaper forms of the drug may not become available in nations seen as non-profitable to the five drugmakers. Drug patents in India are an important issue as many countries depend on generic drugmakers to make and sell cheaper versions of critical drugs to them. Remdesivir is the only drug approved to treat COVID-19 patients after promising early trial results prompted US regulators to grant emergency use authorisation on May 2.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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