[Ip-health] Oxfam urges the World Health Assembly to adopt resolutions to ensure access
to medicine for poor countries
mksmith@Oxfam.org.uk
mksmith@Oxfam.org.uk
Wed May 24 22:46:01 2006
Oxfam urges the World Health Assembly to adopt resolutions to ensure access
to medicine for poor countries
1. Commission on Intellectual Property Rights' Innovation and Public
Health (CIPH) Report
The CIPH report recommends transparent and consistent pricing policies
by originator and generic companies in both middle income and least
developed countries, since vast numbers of very poor people live in the
former as well as the latter. It affirms that governments should
promote competition; strengthen regulation; encourage viable local and
regional markets, and engage in South/South cooperation to enhance
generic competition, including through local production of quality
products. Oxfam believes that generic competition is crucial to price
reduction as shown in the case of Antiretrovirals where price dropped
from $ 10,000 to $ 140 per person per year.
Over and above TRIPS compliance, the issue of TRIPS Plus measures
introduced in the bilateral and regional Free Trade Agreements is a
particular concern. These agreements have devastating implications for
countries faced with overwhelming health challenges, and the need to
access relevant affordable first and second-line medicines, now and in
the future. We strongly welcome the fact that the report highlights that
adverse health consequences must be explicitly recognised before any
such binding agreements are entered into.
As the report notes, the flexibilities in the WTO TRIPS agreement, and
in particular the use of compulsory licenses and the amendments for
production for export are not - in practice - assisting countries to
access patented medicines. It is clear that the flaws in the TRIPS
Agreement merit review of the agreement. Oxfam recommends that the WHA
adopts the recommendations of the CIPH report.
2. The Global framework on essential health research and development
The report notes: "There is no evidence that the implementation of the
TRIPS agreement in developing countries will significantly boost R&D in
pharmaceuticals on Type II (such as HIV/AIDS and TB) and particularly
Type III (such as African sleeping sickness and African river blindness)
diseases. Insufficient market incentives are the decisive factor" Thus
the report adds to the mounting evidence of the ineffective Intellectual
Property Rights system in ensuring R&D for medicines for poor people.
The current massive public health challenges from both communicable and
non-communicable diseases require new mechanisms for promoting R&D.
Oxfam supports the WHA resolution calling for an international mechanism
to increase global coordination and funding of medical R&D. The proposed
R&D framework enables countries to focus the R&D agenda to the public
health needs of their citizens and avoids the market failure in filling
the medicines research gap.
Conclusion
These two resolutions provide an opportunity for revision of the global
public health agenda in ways that recognise the extreme urgency of
achieving access to medicines that are relevant to global public health,
and that support long-term, sustainable production of low priced public
health goods through reinforcing competition, and by introducing
innovative ways to finance R&D.
Dr. Mohga Kamal
Health policy advisor
Oxfam GB
Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley,
Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK
Tel: + 44 (0) 1865 472290
Fax +44 (0) 1865 312245
E mail mksmith@Oxfam.org.uk
Oxfam works with others to find lasting solutions to poverty and suffering.
Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International, a company limited by guarantee and registered in England No. 612172.
Registered office: Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY
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