Two British researchers say they have found a way to produce low-cost versions of expensive pharmaceuticals without breaking patent laws.

Sunil Shaunak and Steve Brocchini call their products “ethical pharmaceuticals.”

Their first target is a naturally occurring molecule called interferon, which is used to treat hepatitis C. Commercial interferon has a coat of sugar molecules that reduces side effects and helps it last longer in the body. It is safe and effective, but also expensive.

One shouldn't assume that industry is just going to accept that. Frederick Abbott, Florida State University

In the UK, a full course of treatment costs around £7,000, well beyond the means of most people in the developing world. Hepatitis C affects 200 million people and kills about half a million people each year.

The researchers attached sugar molecules to a different part of interferon, creating a configuration that may be novel enough to evade existing patents.

If it passes regulatory hurdles—and legal challenges—the compound would then be made affordable in the developing world. Patents on the process, along with the resulting interferon formulation, are held by PolyTherics Ltd., a company founded in 2001 by the researchers. Shantha Biotech, based in Hyderabad, India, has agreed to produce the drug, and the Indian government is set to conduct clinical trials.

Shaunak says other researchers should follow this example by reformulating other drugs. They have also partnered with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative to alter a leishmaniasis treatment. Drugs created by this method will need to be approved by regulatory agencies.

Pharmaceutical companies Roche and Schering-Plough, which hold patents on sugar-coated interferon, declined to comment. But Frederick Abbott, a Florida State University law professor and intellectual property expert, says the patents are sure to be contested.

“Are scientists morally and ethically justified in trying to develop workarounds to the patent system to provide treatment to more people? Absolutely,” says Abbott. “But one shouldn't assume that industry is just going to accept that.”