Oregon Health and Science University researcher Brian Druker (pictured at left), who first showed that the cancer drug Gleevec could produce near-miraculous remissions in certain leukemia patients, and the drugmaker Novartis, which owns Gleevec. When asked, Druker has long acknowledged that he had to cajole dubious officials at Novartis -- then Ciba-Geigy -- into keeping Gleevec alive, in part because those officials thought that chronic myelogenous leukemia was too small a market to be worth bothering with.
Now, though, Druker's simmering frustration with his one-time partner seems to have boiled over into something approaching open animosity, at least when calibrated for the academic context from which it originates. In an opinion piece published at LiveMint.com -- apparently a joint venture of the Hindustan Times and the WSJ, although that's not stated explicitly anywhere on the site -- Druker lambastes Novartis for setting high prices for Gleevec (known as Glivec in non-U.S. markets) and for abusing its patent rights. This comes just a week after an Indian court rejected a Novartis patent application on a certain form of the Gleevec molecule (see Pharmalot and the WSJ health blog for more).
It's worth a look at the whole piece, but I was particularly struck by Druker's sly dig at Novartis drug researchers and their bosses (emphasis added):
Many scientists, if not most of those I have collaborated with in these settings, are engaged in research primarily motivated by the pursuit of knowledge as a means to help patients. For many of these scientists it is, therefore, of great concern that the results of their efforts can’t reach patients and save lives because of pricing strategies and patent policies such as “patent evergreening” (minor changes to existing molecules designed to extend patent monopolies) used by partners further down the drug development process.
Given my unfamiliarity with LiveMint.com, I've pinged both Druker and the OHSU news office to confirm the authenticity of this essay. I'll update if and when I hear back. (Hat tip: Pharmalot.)