[Ip-health] The Gorlin Group on Lamy's comments in FT

[Ellen T HOEN]

Mr Gorlin in his letter to the FT copied here below - like so many others -
has it wrong. Many countries use and have used the Doha Declaration on
TRIPS and Public Health including compulsory licensing to allow for
production of generic medicines or to allow import of generic medicines
that are beinig produced and can be freely exported because they stem from
the 'pre TRIPS ear". India is an important source of these drugs. Today
about 50% of the people living with AIDS depend on Indian generic ARVS. In
the near future this will change when newer drugs will be patented and
sources of generic supply will dry up. This can be remedied through
compulsory licensing. But TRIPS put limits on export of products produced
under a compulsory license. The so called WTO August 30 decision of 2003
was supposed to remedy this. We now know that this remedy is very cumbersom
and unworkable and it is encouraging that Mr Lamy recognises this as it
will affect the countries that today have access to medicines because they
use the Doha Declaration.

 For more information visit:
 http://www.accessmed-msf.org/documents/WTOaugustreport.pdf

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 Note that clients of the 'Gorlin Group' include:


 Bristol-Myers Squibb                     Microsoft
 DuPont                                   Monsanto
 FMC Corporation                          Novartis
 General Electric                         Pfizer
 Gilead                                   Pharmacia
 GlaxoSmithKline                          Procter & Gamble
 Hewlett-Packard                          Rockwell International
 IBM                                      Schering Plough
 Johnson & Johnson                        Texas Instruments
 Lilly                                    Time Warner
 Merck                                    Westinghouse



 American BioIndustry Alliance (ABIA)
 Business Roundtable
 Intellectual Property Committee (IPC)
 International Federation of
 Pharmaceutical Manufacturers &
 Associations (IFPMA)
 INTERPAT
 Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association
 of South Africa
 Pharmaceutical Research and
 Manufacturers Association (PhRMA)
 RDPAC (R&D-based Pharmaceutical
 Association in China)






 ==================

 THE FT
 Poor countries cannot afford even cheaper generic drugs
 By Jacques J Gorlin
 Published: October 16 2006 03:00 | Last updated: October 16 2006 03:00
 From Dr Jacques J. Gorlin.
 Sir, With reference to your article "WTO head flags trade rules as way to
 reduce drug costs" (October 12): there is another conclusion, other than
 the one drawn by Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade
 Organisation, that can explain the fact that the WTO has not received a
 single notification of a developing country issuing a compulsory licence
 to overturn pharmaceutical patents for medicines for Aids and other killer
 diseases.
 Rather than arguing, as Mr Lamy does, that it proves that the current
 trade related intellectual property rights (Trips) flexibilities were too
 complex to be used in practice, the lack of notifications proves that
 patents are not the reason why these countries do not have access to
 critical medicines. Patents are not the reason for the problem, because
 the medicines in question are overwhelmingly not under patent in poor
 countries, and, where a medicine may be under patent, pharmaceutical
 companies have waived enforcement of those patents. Consequently, there is
 no need for the issuance of compulsory licences and these developing
 countries have looked to other mechanisms for gaining vital medicines.
 The real challenges facing these countries are alluded to in the rest of
 Andrew Jack's report: the lack of financial resources in these countries
 to pay for even cheaper generic copies and the weak infrastructure, which
 includes, for example, high tariffs on imports of essential medicine and
 rudimentary public health and distribution systems.
 It is time for senior officials of
 Mr Lamy's stature to focus their efforts on solutions that will make a
 difference on the ground.
 Jacques J. Gorlin,
 President,
 The Gorlin Group,
 Washington , DC20037, US



______________________________________

Ellen F.M. 't Hoen LL.M.
Director Policy Advocacy

Medecins sans Frontieres
Access to Essential Medicines Campaign
8, rue Saint - Sabin
75544 Paris cedex 11
France

tel: + 33 1 4021 2836
fax: + 33 1 40212960
e-mail: ellen.t.hoen@paris.msf.org
www.accessmed-msf.org