[Ip-health] MSF Report: Drug Patents Under the Spotlight

[mpalmedo@cptech.org]

Press release (text below):
http://www.msf.org/content/page.cfm?articleid=6BE04D00-C80E-461D-A42754072ABC74DC

Full Report:
http://www.msf.org/content/page.cfm?articleid=ADA6508E-8907-4010-98650D3E93826B0D


MSF puts drug patents under the spotlight
22.05.2003


 "Developing countries should not hesitate to check and challenge the
validity of patents," says Ellen 't Hoen of MSF. "This is already
beginning to happen in some countries, such as Kenya and Thailand."


Geneva - A few days before the 192 countries at the World Health Assembly
(WHA) discuss "intellectual property rights, innovation and public health"
(provisional agenda item 14.9), MSF is releasing a report setting straight
common misconceptions about patents and highlighting country efforts to
overcome patent obstacles to accessing life-saving medicines.

"Patents are social policy tools," explained Ellen 't Hoen, MSF Campaign
for Access to Essential Medicines. "When patents are issued for a method
of swinging sideways on a swing, no-one's life is in the balance. But when
it comes to pharmaceuticals, intellectual property must be weighed against
the needs of people whose lives depend on medicines."

Most developing countries' patent laws are still modelled on developed
country systems. But in developed countries, patents are regularly
challenged in court and in some cases deemed invalid. In developing
countries, the practice of contesting patents has not been established. As
a result invalid patents remain in place.

"Developing countries should not hesitate to check and challenge the
validity of patents," says Ellen 't Hoen. "This is already beginning to
happen in some countries, such as Kenya and Thailand."

An example cited in the report is the case of Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMS)
ARV ddI. In one of the few cases of a patent being contested in a
developing country, the Thai Central Intellectual Property and
International Trade Court ruled to throw out the patent on a particular
dosage of the drug. The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health was
cited in the court's brief.

The report also makes public all the information MSF has gathered on 18
drugs in 29 countries so that Ministries of Health and non-profit
purchasers can benefit from the information, and not be bullied into
buying more expensive drugs when it's not necessary.

MSF appeals to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to continue this work by setting
up a user-friendly, public database providing comprehensive and
transparent data on pharmaceutical patents of key medicines. This
information should be accompanied by clear advice to countries on how to
overcome patent barriers to medicines, and with technical assistance in
doing so.