[Ip-health] "Access to medicine vital: Forum hears of local, global problems" (The Telegram, St. John's, Newfoundland, 21 March 2004)

[Richard Elliott]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]

Below is an article from The Telegram, in St. John's, Newfoundland,
regarding a well-attended forum on access to medicines, including the issue
of Canada's Bill C-9 to implement the WTO August 30, 2003 decision on
export of generic pharmaceuticals produced under compulsory licenses.


Access to medicine vital: Forum hears of local, global problems

The Telegram (St. John's)
Sun 21 Mar 2004
Page: A3
Section: Provincial
Byline: Will M. Hilliard
Source: The Telegram

Phil Lundrigan, a 43-year-old Spaniard's Bay man who has been living with
HIV for eight years, showed up at a forum in St. John's Saturday with
garbage bags full of empty medicine bottles.

"What you see here is about $250,000 worth of drugs, 15 different
prescriptions, 40 pills a day -- it's what's keeping me alive," said
Lundrigan.

"But I couldn't afford them if they weren't covered under the provincial
prescription-drug program. The message that I want to get across here today
is we need to make sure there is no more erosion of our health-care system.
We have to get all the provinces back up to an adequate national standard."

His concerns were echoed by a handful of speakers who addressed the growing
need locally and globally for affordable access to essential medicines to
deal with public-health crises, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malari=
a.

MILLIONS DENIED MEDICATION

Millions of poor people around the world, and especially in sub-Saharan
Africa where the AIDS crisis has reached epidemic proportions, are being
denied life-saving medicines because they can't afford them.

Saturday's forum at The Lantern in St. John's was organized by the Canadian
Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

Lundrigan, vice-chairman of the Canadian Treatment Action Council, spoke on
the high costs of medicines in Newfoundland. Mary Coyle, from the Stephen
Lewis Foundation, spoke about the Africa crisis. Sister Elizabeth Davis,
former CEO of the Health Care Corp. of St. John's, spoke about providing
affordable health care.

And Marie-Helene Bonin, national representative with the Canadian Labour
Congress, focused on how Canada can improve its drug patent laws.

FRIGHTENING FIGURES

The statistics are disturbing. Three quarters of the people in the world
with HIV/AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa, and 90 per cent of them have not
been diagnosed.

Only 30,000 of the 30 million infected people on the continent have access
to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) that have made the chronic disease
manageable in the developed world.

Advocacy groups are buoyed by the proposed Bill C-9, an act before the
House of Commons to amend the Patent Act and the Food and Drugs Act that
would legalize the export of low-cost generic medicines to poor people
around the world.

Bill C-9 -- also known as Jean Chretien's Pledge to Africa -- would
encourage generic participation in the market as a way to drive down
soaring drug prices.

However, the advocates warned the current wording of Bill C-9 will allow
powerful pharmaceutical firms the right of first refusal, meaning that
brand-name companies can take over any contract struck between a generic
manufacturer and a developing country within 30 days of its signing.

Generic producers argue this gives them no incentive to participate.

BILL NEEDS CHANGES

In a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin a few weeks ago, a relief group
founded by rock star Bono warned that Bill C-9 will set "a poor precedent
for the world" unless key clauses favouring brand-name giants are removed.

"We are calling on the federal government to rewrite Bill C-9 to ensure it
brings some relief to countries in desperate need -- that's why it's so
important for the public to hear this message that we're getting out here
today," said local CUPE president Wayne Lucas.

But he said it's important that local and global needs not be separated.

"We've got people in Newfoundland and Labrador who can't afford cancer
treatments, can't afford HIV/AIDS treatment, Alzheimer's treatment, and the
list goes on," Lucas said.

whill@thetelegram.com

Illustration:
=95 Photo: Keith Gosse, The Telegram / Phil Lundrigan, who has been living
with HIV for eight years, displays garbage bags full of empty bottles of
the medicine that help keep him alive, medicine he couldn't afford if not
for the provincial prescription-drug program.


Edition: Final
Story Type: News
Length: 574 words

Richard Elliott
Director, Legal Research & Policy / Directeur, politiques et recherche
juridique
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network / R=E9seau juridique canadien VIH/sida
890 Yonge Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Canada M4W 3P4
Tel : +1 (416) 595-1666                 Fax +1 (416) 595-0094
E-mail: relliott@aidslaw.ca     Web: www.aidslaw.ca

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is a partner organisation of the
AIDS Law Project of South Africa, and a non-governmental organization in
Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the
United Nations. //
Le R=E9seau juridique canadien VIH/sida est un organisme partenaire  du AID=
S
Law Project
de l'Afrique du Sud et ONG dot=E9 de statut consultatif sp=E9cial aupr=E8s =
du
Conseil =E9conomique
et social des Nations Unies.
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