[Ip-health] Canadian MP's bill to eliminate "automatic injunction" regulations favouring patentees

[Richard Elliott]

Windsor Star (November 15, 2004)
PROPOSAL WILL SAVE HEALTH CASH: MP

NDP MP Brian Masse says a private member's bill he will introduce today in =
the House of Commons
would save Canadians a small fortune in health care expenses.

"We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that can be saved," th=
e Windsor West MP said.

Masse will give first reading to a proposal to amend regulations that enabl=
e pharmaceutical
companies to apply for, and automatically receive, two-year extensions on e=
xisting 20-year periods
of patent protection for brand-name drugs.

"Twenty years should be 20 years, nothing more and nothing less," said Mass=
e, adding his proposed
legislation would allow pharmaceutical companies to seek extended patent pr=
otection, but only after
they prove it's justified.

In the case of the commonly used ulcer drug Losec, said Masse, Canadians an=
d their health care
system could have saved $443 million as of the beginning of this year had c=
heaper generic brands
been allowed onto the market. Instead, he said, the drug's manufacturer Ast=
raZeneca has been given
repeated extensions since its original 20-year patent protection period lap=
sed in 1999.

"Losec has been available generically in the United States and Europe for y=
ears," said Masse.

While Canadian prescription drug prices remain competitive, Masse said thos=
e costs are increasing at
a faster rate -- 15 per cent per year -- than any other part of the health =
care system.

He added that Canada leads the developed nations when it comes to the rate =
of drug cost increases.



__________________________________

Richard Elliott
Director, Legal Research & Policy
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
890 Yonge Street, Suite 700
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4W 3P4
Tel:=A0  +1 (416) 595-1666
Fax:  +1 (416) 595-0094
E-mail: relliott@aidslaw.ca
Web:    www.aidslaw.ca
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