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[Rohit Malpani]

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Rich countries 'blocking cheap drugs for developing world'

=B7 US and EU have broken Doha pledges, says Oxfam
=B7 Stop Aids claims 75% of HIV patients not treated

Sarah Boseley, health editor
Tuesday November 14, 2006

Guardian

Poor people are needlessly dying because drug companies and the governments=
 of rich countries are blocking the developing world from obtaining afforda=
ble medicines, a report says today.

Five years to the day after the Doha declaration - a groundbreaking deal to=
 give poor countries access to cheap drugs - was signed at the World Trade =
Organisation, Oxfam says things are worse.

The charity accuses the US, which champions the interests of its giant phar=
maceutical companies, of bullying developing countries into not using the m=
easures in the Doha declaration and the EU of standing by and doing nothing=
. Doha technically allows poor countries to buy cheap copies of desperately=
 needed drugs but the US is accused of trying to prevent countries such as =
Thailand and India, which have manufacturing capacity, making and selling c=
heap generic versions so as to preserve the monopolies of the drug giants.

"Rich countries have broken the spirit of the Doha declaration," said Celin=
e Charveriat, head of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair <http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what=
_you_can_do/campaign/mtf/a2m.htm?ito=3D2505&itc=3D0>  campaign. "The declar=
ation said the right things but needed political action to work and that ha=
sn't happened. In fact, we've actually gone backwards. Many people are dyin=
g or suffering needlessly."

The Indian generics firms make most of the cheap drug cocktails that are no=
w being rolled out to people with HIV in Africa and are keeping more than a=
 million people alive. They brought the price of a basic three-drug cocktai=
l down from $10,000 (=A35,250) a year to less than $150 (=A379). But new Ai=
ds drugs will soon be needed because the virus will become resistant to the=
 basic ones now in use - as has happened in the EU and the US.

Those newer Aids drugs, together with drugs for cancer and diabetes, are un=
der patent. The Oxfam report points out that 4 million people were newly in=
fected with HIV in 2005 and cancer and diabetes are expanding faster in dev=
eloping countries than in the richer world.

The report says that, since the signing of the Doha declaration on November=
 14 2001, "rich countries have failed to honour their promises. Their recor=
d ranges from apathy and inaction to dogged determination to undermine the =
declaration's spirit and intent. The US, at the behest of the pharmaceutica=
l industry, is uniqely guilty of seeking ever higher levels of intellectual=
 property protection in developing countries."

The US has pursued its own free trade agreements with developing countries,=
 tying them into much tighter observance of patent rights than anticipated =
at Doha. "The USA has also pressured countries for greater patent protectio=
n through threats of trade sanctions," the report says.

The drugs firms are also fighting to have patents observed. Pfizer is chall=
enging the Philippines government in a bid to extend its monopoly on Norvas=
c, a drug pressure drug. Novartis is engaged in litigation in India to enfo=
rce a patent for Glivec, a cancer drug, which could save many lives if it w=
ere available at generic prices.

The Stop Aids campaign, a coalition of 90 NGOs of which Oxfam is a member, =
is calling for the government to champion the issue at the G8 summit next y=
ear. Three-quarters of HIV drugs are still under monopoly and unaffordable =
in poor countries, it said. More than 75% of those who need HIV treatment u=
rgently are still not getting it. Only 8% of children with HIV are on drugs=
, which cost four times more than those for adults.

"Sadly, promising words have not translated into life-saving treatments and=
 five years is too long to wait when the stakes are so high," said Steve Co=
ckburn, campaign coordinator.

Case study

Premavati, a 60-year-old widow living in Delhi who is suffering from non-Ho=
dgkins lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, has spent around $900 (=
=A3470) on medicines. "My husband died two years ago," says Premavati. "We =
have absolutely no savings. Of my two sons one is a casual labourer, the ot=
her has no job. My daughter is 30, has two children and is also a widow." S=
he is one of 1.42 billion people in India who cannot afford the drugs they =
need to save their lives. Their country is the leading producer of inexpens=
ive generic drugs but about 67% of the output is exported, and it is under =
pressure to stop copying new patented drugs. The future looks bleak for Pre=
mavati. "How will I raise the money for my treatment?" she says, "Already, =
I've spent what we had. If nobody helps I will just go back to my daughter =
and will have to die without medicines."