[Ip-health] Uganda Compulsory License story

[James Love]

From: fatima@healthlink.org.za | Block Address | Add to Address Book 
To: love@cptech.org 
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 16:07:32 +0200 
Subject: Re: [Pharm-policy] Uganda Compulsory licensing case 
         
Hi!

Here's the piece to corroborate your message.

Regards, Fatima

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Uganda rejects local HIV generics bid
by Michael Wakabi
Source: Business Day, 23 August 2001

THE Ugandan pharmaceutical industry is locked in a battle with 
authorities after its bid for permission to manufacture generic
anti-HIV medication earlier this month was rejected as premature.

The health ministry says that while the industry may have the 
technology, issues of quality have to be addressed before the bid can
be considered.

Among drugs the local companies propose to manufacture is the generic 
version of Combivir, which contains AZT and 3TC in a single pill.

The combination boosts the immune systems of those infected with the 
HIV virus.

"The threat of poor standards and counterfeits is too real to be 
ignored," said an official with the National Drug Authority.

The manufacturers argue that producing the generics would make them 
affordable to more than a million HIV-positive Ugandans who cannot 
afford the HIV/AIDS drugs on the market.

Their request came after Mulago Hospital said a batch of Nevirapine, 
imported for prescription to HIV-positive expecting mothers, was
approaching its expiry date without being used as few Ugandans could 
afford the $170 charge for a monthly dose.

"It may be true that they have the production lines but you cannot 
ignore the reality; that even producing the correct weight of vitamin
supplements is a problem for some of these manufacturers," said the
official.

Authorities fear that such variations in quality could lead to the 
emergence of resistant strains in a short time, making years of
research redundant.

The pharmaceutical companies suspect that in denying them licences, 
Uganda is bending to threats by global drug manufacturers who own the
patents.

They have the support of advocacy groups for people living with HIV who

see cost as a major obstacle to access. The local industry says Uganda 
should follow India, Brazil and Thailand, who produce generics without
the consent of patent holders.

In a letter to the Ugandan government, GlaxoSmithKline warned that 
importing generics made by Cipla Pharmaceuticals of India, which
compete with drugs it sells in some African countries, would be an
infringement of patent rights.

Price cuts in December by GlaxoSmithKline and German pharmaceutical 
giant Boerhinger Ingelheim on some drugs sold in Uganda have not led to
a significant increase in the number of people accessing them.

--------------------------

Fatima Suleman
Information Manager
Healthlink Programme - Health Systems Trust
PO Box 808
Durban, 4001
Tel: 27 31 307 2954    Fax: 27 31 304 0775
Email: fatima@healthlink.org.za
http://www.hst.org.za



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