[Ip-health] bmj: Trade agreement may restrict supply of essential drugs in Central America, experts say

[Nathan Ford]

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BMJ  6 August 2005



Trade agreement may restrict supply of essential drugs in Central America, =
experts say



John Zarocostas



Health and development advocacy groups fear that stringent intellectual pro=
perty provisions imposed by the United States in a new free trade pact will=
 trigger higher prices of drugs and will restrict access to cheap essential=
 generic drugs, including antiretrovirals, in poor Central American nations=
.



The Central American free trade agreement between and the US and Costa Rica=
, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua w=
as approved by the US House of Representatives on 27 July by a vote of 217 =
to 215.



The pact has many aspects that are problematic and will raise drug prices a=
nd strengthen the monopoly position of big brand drug companies in these po=
or nations, said Jamie Love, director of the Consumer Project for Technolog=
y, which is based in Washington, DC.



Mr Love said the stringent intellectual property provisions in the accord "=
create a new monopoly on data used to register new products."



The charity M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res, in a submission to the US House o=
f Representatives, concluded that the pact had many troubling provisions co=
ncerning intellectual property and that it will "threaten to hamper generic=
 competition-the only reliable mechanism for ensuring lower drug prices-and=
 therefore restrict access to affordable medicines in the Central American =
region."



Mr Love said the US government refused requests to fix the problems in the =
pact, but he added that he still believes there may be some space for manoe=
uvre to ease some of these terms.



"It can be done if the US wants to," he said.



In a similar vein, Oxfam International said that the agreement "imposes str=
ict new rules that extend the monopoly held by brand-name pharmaceuticals, =
which will limit generic competition and reduce access to affordable medici=
nes in the future."



Senior envoys from Central American countries admit in private that the ter=
ms in the new pact on intellectual property are more strict than the provis=
ions of the World Trade Organization's agreement on trade related aspects o=
f intellectual property rights (TRIPS).



"The terms are certainly TRIPS plus," said a World Trade Organization ambas=
sador.



However, officials of the Bush administration maintain that the fears expre=
ssed about the pact are unfounded.



"We think they're wrong. We believe the provisions in the free trade agreem=
ent will provide wider access in these countries," said Richard Mills, spok=
esman for the US trade representative, the country's chief trade negotiator=
 and chief adviser to the president on trade.



Stringent protection of patents and data will potentially increase the avai=
lability of drugs, he said.



Moreover, Peter Allgeier, the deputy trade representative, said a specific =
provision in the agreement says that "not withstanding any of the provision=
s in the agreement, this does not diminish the country's ability to meet th=
eir public health needs."



He said, "If there is a public health need, or a public health crisis, is t=
here anything in the agreement that prevents countries from meeting their n=
eeds? The answer is no."



Three of the signatories-Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua-=
have still to ratify the agreement before it can come into effect.





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