 However, even “fully accepting Idenix’s view of the evidence,” it was the company Schinazi founded, Pharmasset, not Idenix, that synthesized the key “compound that led to a cure for HCV.”.Even accepting that Idenix discovered a component of the compound, the cure for HCV was discovered only after Pharmasset/Gilead’s ”revolutionary refinement of that invention.” Patent law, according to the order, reflects a balance between protection “and the importance of facilitating the imitation and refinement through imitation that are necessary to invention itself and the very lifeblood of a competitive economy.”

In 2014, Dr. Schinazi working together with the Egyptian government and Gilead Sciences, agreed to provide Egypt with the drug Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) for about US$1,000, which is only one percent of its market price.Also working with Pharco, an Egyptian Pharmaceutical company Sovaldi is now available for less than US$120 per cure.