[Ip-health] AFP on China and compulsory licensing

[Asia Russell]

Major China decision looming on copycat AIDS drugs

Fri Sep 10,12:26 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - China is mulling whether to invoke a controversial World
Trade Organisation (WTO) deal on branded HIV ( news -web sites ) drugs in
order to combat its fast-growing AIDS ( news -web sites ) epidemic, a top
Chinese health official said.
=A0
Shao Yiming, chief expert at China's National Centre for AIDS/STD Control
and Prevention, said China would shortly decide whether to pursue its polic=
y
of negotiating low prices for these drugs from pharmaceutical giants or,
instead, copy patented medications, which is permitted by the WTO if there
is a national emergency.

"I think a decision will be made before the end of the year about whether t=
o
go with the reduced price of brand drugs or with the compulsory licensing,"
Shao told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of an AIDS conference here.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed on August 30, 2003 that poor
countries stricken by AIDS or other mortal epidemics can issue compulsory
licences entitling domestic firms to copy a foreign-patented drug.

China estimates that, as at the end of last year, it had around 859,000
people living with AIDS or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that
causes it.

But the country is so big and the statistics so sketchy that some experts
believe the figure could be two or three times as much.

Shao said it was possible that the toll could reach 10 million cases by
2010.

Epidemiologists are hard at work in badly affected regions trying to get a
fix on the numbers, and their report would in turn be a factor on the
decision on compulsory licensing, he said.

In a two-week stretch this summer, 100,000 blood donors were tested for HIV
in Henan, the central province that is reeling from an explosion in
infection rates triggered by illegal blood donations in the 1990s, Shao
said.

The drugs decision lies with the National Executive Committee, which is
chaired by the vice premier and includes the ministers and vice ministers o=
f
about 22 ministries.

In addition to buying the imported HIV drug 3TC from GlaxoSmithKline, China
already makes five generic HIV drugs whose patents has either expired or is
not legally protected in China. They are AZT, ddI, nevirapine, D40 and
indinavir.

Shao said it was essential for China not only to broaden this arsenal in th=
e
face of the drug resistance.

Compulsory licences are supposed to be issued only in cases of extreme
urgency or national emergency, or if a government has failed to get
reasonable commercial terms from the pharmaceutical corporation.

In addition, the licences are supposed to be limited in scope and duration,
for the treatment only for domestic patients, without resale to other
markets, and for a limited number of years.

Western pharmaceutical giants had fought bitterly against compulsory
licences, describing them as legalised piracy that would sap the profit
motive that spurs drug innovation.


Copyright =A9 2004 Agence France Presse . All rights reserved. The informat=
ion
contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France
Presse.


--
Asia Russell
Health GAP
asia@healthgap.org
tel +1 267 475 2645
http://www.healthgap.org