[Ip-health] AFP: Drugs patent debate set to dominate annual WHO assembly

[Sheila.SHETTLE@geneva.msf.org]

Agence France Presse -- English
May 21, 2006 Sunday 12:28 PM GMT
Drugs patent debate set to dominate annual WHO assembly

Patrick Baert

GENEVA, May 21 2006
The vexed issue of drugs patents, which is at the core of the debate over
access to treatment in poor countries, is set to dominate the annual
assembly of the World Health Organisation which kicks off Monday.

More than a hundred health ministers -- as well as Britain's Prince Charles
-- are scheduled to attend the UN agency's ruling forum which runs until
May 27.

The debate over patent protection for medicines has fueled spats at
previous meetings between rich countries which are home to the world's top
pharmaceutical firms and poor nations which say their concerns are
sidelined and want more flexibility to fight epidemics cheaply.

Denis Aitken, a senior advisor to WHO chief Lee Jong-wook, acknowledged
that the patents issue is likely once again to be a "difficult item" at
this year's World Health Assembly.

Brazil and Kenya want the 192-nation WHO to spearhead efforts to increase
research on "neglected" diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, which
hit developing countries hardest.

According to the campaign and aid group Medecins sans frontieres -- which
accuses the WHO of "inertia" -- only 21 of the 1,556 drugs brought onto the
global market from 1975-2004 were destined to fight such diseases.

Last month, a report by former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss which was
commissioned by the WHO called on the pharmaceutical industry to slash the
price of drugs sold in developing countries -- something companies insist
they have already done in many cases.

Dreifuss is not expected to present her report to the assembly, and
campaigners have seen this as a cave in to the industry.

But for the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and
Associations, the price and patent issue falls outside the mandate of the
WHO and should instead be discussed only at the World Trade Organisation.

The latter adopted new rules in 2003 allowing poor countries to import
cheap copies of patented drugs to tackle health crises, but no government
has so far taken advantage of them.

The WHO assembly is also expected to focus on polio, which was on the verge
of being eradicated after a 15-year UN-led campaign before it made a
comeback in Africa in 2003 and reinfected countries where it had been wiped
out.

Delegates are also set to ponder what to do about smallpox, which was
eliminated two decades ago.

Many governments are seeking the destruction of virus stocks which are held
in laboratories in the United States and Russia, saying they represent a
risk.

But others, notably Washington and Moscow, support keeping them for
research purposes, saying scientists need to be able to tackle potential
disease threats linked to bioterrorism.

For the tenth time in as many years the first day of the assembly is set to
be taken up by jousting over Taiwan's efforts to win observer status at the
WHO -- a request that has been systematically blocked by Beijing.

On Friday, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian said his country was a
"missing link" in the global health and medical system.

Beijing considers Taiwan to be a province of China, and systematically
seeks to stymie any initiative by Taiwan to gain international recognition
as an independent political entity.

Taiwan was evicted from the WHO in 1972, a year after losing its seat in
the United Nations to China.

Last year, however, Beijing signed a protocol with the WHO opening the door
to a technical cooperation with Taipei that would authorise the UN
organization to invite experts from Taiwan to participate in joint
activities.

Under the accord, the WHO can also send experts to the island to
investigate epidemics or offer medical assistance.

Aitken said that the accord had been "successful" over the past year.

"It is our intention to continue to involve Taiwanese experts as much as we
can", he told reporters.

"We don't see any gap in coverage".


+++++++++++++++++++++
Sheila Shettle
Communications Officer
M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Rue de Lausanne 78
1211 Geneva
Switzerland
+ 41.22.849.8403
sheila.shettle@geneva.msf.org
www.accessmed-msf.org