US to consider poor countries' need for drugs HEALTHCARE CALL FOR END TO TRADE PRESSURES IN HEALTH-RELATED DISPUTES

[Thiru Balasubramaniam <thiru@cptech.org>]

Thanks to John Albanese for posting this on the HealthGAP list.



Financial Times: Dec. 3, 1999:

WORLD NEWS: TRADE: US to consider poor countries' need for
drugs HEALTHCARE   
                                                    
CALL FOR END TO TRADE PRESSURES
IN HEALTH-RELATED DISPUTES:
                                           
Financial Times ;
03-Dec-1999 03:00:47 am ; 388 words
                                                           
Public health groups yesterday welcomed
President Bill Clinton's announcement at the World         
Trade Organisation meeting that US trade policy would in
future consider poor countries' need for access
to lifesaving drugs, including drugs for treating HIV/Aids.

Medecins Sans Frontie`res, Health Action
International and the US-based Consumer Project on         
Technology urged the US to back up the president's words
by ending current trade pressures on poor
countries in healthcare related disputes.
Non-governmental organisations, including Aids
activists, have mounted a vigorous campaign                
over the past year or so to change US trade policy.

Under pressure from US pharmaceutical companies,
they say, Washington has tried to prevent developing
countries from using arrangements such as compulsory
licensing or parallel imports to provide
lower-cost drugs, even where these are permitted under WTO
intellectual property rules.

In September, the US dropped its sanctions
threats against South Africa which wants to use            
these arrangements to cope with its HIV/ Aids epidemic,
after Aids groups disrupted the US presidential
campaign of Vice-president Al Gore.

However, Jamie Love of the Consumer Project on
Technology said the US was still in dispute with
more than 40 countries over intellectual property issues
related to health.

After President Clinton's speech on Wednesday,
US officials said the US trade representative              
would work with the US health department in trying to
ensure the availability of lower-cost medicines
where countries identify a "healthcare emergency,
particularly in respect of HIV/Aids".

Mr Love said the move marked a sharp shift in US
policy but it was still unclear how the new                
arrangements would work and how the pharmaceutical industry
would react.

Harvey Bale, of the International Federation of
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, said
yesterday that the change "would not do any damage to the
pharmaceutical industry". But compulsory
licensing and parallel imports were not the answer to
drug-access problems because even drugs provided
at cost price were not necessarily affordable.

A better option was global financing through
joint public/private initiatives such as the               
Medicines for Malaria venture sponsored by the World Health
Organisation.

Separately, pharmaceutical companies expressed
concern about a EU proposal for the WTO                    
ministerial declaration that would stipulate the right of
countries to use compulsory licensing for                  
medicines on the WHO's essential drugs list.
                                                           
           Copyright ) The Financial Times Limited