[Ip-health] Toronto Star: Rwanda taps Canada for drugs [26 July 2007]

[Richard Elliott]

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/240027

Rwanda taps Canada for drugs
African country's request for generic anti-AIDS product is first under
Access to Medicines Regime
July 26, 2007
TANYA TALAGA
HEALTH REPORTER

Rwanda is the first country to come forward and ask for Canada's help in
supplying cheaply priced, generic drugs to fight HIV/AIDS.

Three years ago, Canada's Access to Medicines Regime was created with the
intention of supplying inexpensive medication to developing nations to figh=
t
public health threats.

Not one pill has been exported due to bureaucratic red tape and flaws in th=
e
legislation.

The central African nation notified the World Trade Organization on July 17
that it asked Canada to supply about 18 million tablets of Apo-triAvir, a
triple combination AIDS medication made by Canadian generic drug giant
Apotex Inc., over the next two years.

That's a year's supply of drugs for 260,000 people, said Elie Betito, Apote=
x
director of public and government affairs.

But now that Rwanda has come forward and stated its intention to buy the
medication, it doesn't mean Apotex can just make and ship the drugs.

The generic firm must get permission from two brand name drug companies,
Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. and GlaxoSmithKline Inc., which make the
drugs used in Apo-triAvir, to move forward.

Ian Mills, president and CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., said th=
e
company just sent a letter to Apotex yesterday allowing them to proceed.

GlaxoSmithKline's Leanne Kitchen-Clarke, director of corporate
communications and stakeholder relations, said the company had been
contacted by Apotex and was "working diligently" on its response.

Under the legislation that was originally passed in 2004, a voluntary
licence is granted to the generic firm to make the drugs. The process is
strewn with obstacles.

"Yes, they can give you the approval initially but they can withdraw it at
any time," Betito said.

"Nothing is simple, nothing is certain."

Last August at the International AIDS conference in Toronto, federal Health
Minister Tony Clement ordered an immediate review of the legislation.

In April there were three days of committee hearings, but a report won't be
debated in Parliament until mid-September at the earliest.

The voluntary licensing requirement makes the process largely unworkable,
Betito said.

"We've told the federal government, if you've got a country, just do a
compulsory licence, just do it and get it done. But no one has done
anything."

Richard Elliott, deputy director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network,
called Rwanda's intention to use the Access to Medicines Regime an importan=
t
first step.

"We are being cautious in our optimism," he said.

"This is the closest we've come so far to seeing the regime achieve what
it's meant to do."

[end]
_________________________________
Richard Elliott
Deputy Director
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
+1 (416) 595-1666 ext. 229
=A0
Directeur adjoint
R=E9seau juridique canadien VIH/sida
+1 (416) 595-1666 poste 229