More on Cipla’s Generic Finasteride
After the post from yesterday (Fincar, Forcan, and Candid-B), I dig some more digging and found that Cipla is a pharma company in India that does not honor US patents. Apparently, as of late 2005 the country has agreed to enforce patents for new products, but not for products already pirated. So Cipla produces its own version of Proscar to be sold in India. This product is illegal to be used or sold in the US, and there is no way to verify that the product is manufactured by Cipla or even contains finasteride when the product is bought over the internet.
To call such products pirated would amount to vouching forthe US Pharma Mafia.
There are two type of patents.. Product patent and process patent.. India follows process patent so only the technique of producing the chemical is patented not the final chemical per se. End result…. the pharma prices are more affordable and more people can afford the medicines… afterall India does not have the Pharma Insurance nexus that is prevalent in USA. The Indian poor benifits from this while due to high price of medication the poor in US who cannot afford enough insurance (20 % of US population?)end up without medication