[Ip-health] Globe & Mail - Canada to seek assent on AIDS drug plan: NAFTA couild snag exports to poor nations

[Mike Palmedo]

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Canada to seek assent on AIDS drug plan: NAFTA couild snag exports to
poor nations

Globe and Mail, October 7, 2003
Heather Scoffield and Steven Chase

OTTAWA -- The federal government will seek assurances today from Mexico
and the United States that the two countries won't use NAFTA to obstruct
Ottawa's plan to allow Canadian companies to export generic drugs to
fight AIDS in poor countries.

International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew is meeting with his
Mexican and American counterparts in Montreal, and senior officials said
yesterday he will conduct "preliminary discussions" on obtaining consent
for Ottawa's generic drug initiative.

A World Trade Organization agreement reached in August that legalized
certain exceptions to world patent laws provided the impetus for the
federal government's plan to allow generic drug exports.

However, the WTO agreement has not been copied into the North American
free-trade agreement.

Mr. Pettigrew has warned that the initiative could face delays because
of NAFTA and other technical problems.

Nevertheless, Canadian officials are confident the United States and
Mexico -- both signatories to the World Trade Organization agreement on
inexpensive drugs for poor countries -- will not object to Ottawa's plan.

"One would assume -- but you can't assume, of course, when you get into
this -- that they wouldn't be too difficult," a senior official said.

However, health-care advocates in developing countries are concerned
that the United States -- pressed by American brand-name drug companies
that don't want to see any changes to patent protections -- will use
NAFTA to undermine Canada's initiative.

The United States was reluctant to sign on to the WTO agreement in the
first place, said Richard Elliott, director of legal policy for the
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

"It would be ideal if the Canadian government got agreement from Mexico
and the U.S. on the public record, and at the same time wrote it into
law [in NAFTA]," added James Orbinski, former president of M=E9decins Sans
Fronti=E8res (Doctors Without Borders).

U.S. trade officials said yesterday they couldn't comment on Canada's
plan for inexpensive drugs but said trade representative Robert Zoellick
should be ready to answer questions on the matter at a press conference
that will be held after NAFTA talks today in Montreal.

"I wouldn't expect that there would be a substantive issue between
Canada and the United States," said Anne McCaskill, an Ottawa-based
trade consultant who has worked in the past for the brand-name
pharmaceutical companies.

"If the Canadian government succeeds in crafting an amendment targeting
medicines and recipients, and preventing abuse . . . then I doubt very
much there would be disputes," she said.

The United States has already agreed to the principle at stake, and will
only be ensuring Canada puts the principle into practice correctly, she
added.

Canada needs a waiver under the North American free-trade agreement so
that Canadian companies can break patents to manufacture copies of
brand-name drugs for export to poor countries stricken with AIDS or
facing other health crises, government officials say.


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