LANCET on Compulsory drug licensing for countries hit by HIV

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

LANCET - 3/4/99


Compulsory drug licensing for countries hit by HIV is mooted

A drive to increase awareness of the benefits of compulsory licensing
for the national production of drugs in developing countries was
launched at meetings in Geneva on March 25-27. The programme is aimed
at the wider public-health community, focusing particularly on
countries worst hit by HIV/AIDS.

Compulsory licensing is the process by which a government grants
permission to a local manufacturer to produce a patented item, such as
essential drugs, without prior agreement with the patent holder, who
however, has to receive adequate renumeration. The meetings which
included the World Bank, World Trade Organisation, NGOs, and
pharmaceutical manufacturers, were organised by Médecins sans
Frontieres (MSF), Health Action International (HAI), and the US-based
Consumer Project on Technology (CPT). Bernard Pecoul from MSF said they
were deeply concerned at the growing number of lives at risk
particularly from HIV/AIDs due to the unequal access to medicines. Bas
van der Heide (HAI) explained the issue of compulsory licensing was
"too important to leave to patent officers and trade officials".

Pointing to the "vast disparity in world income and access to
essential medicines", James Love (CPT) said that revised global-trade
agreements setting new international norms for the protection of
intellectual property must address the problems of access to essential
drugs for the poor. David Waters (International Federation of
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations) stated such licensing as of
negative benefit to the public, adding it would discourage Research
and Development.



-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org