[Ip-health] Guardian: Clinton backs violation of Aids drug patents

[Ira Glazer]

(This is interesting wording coming from the Guardian: on the one hand
CLs are not violations of patents at all; on the other hand the mere
juxtaposition of the words 'violation' and 'patents' in the context of
Aids (and of Pres.Clinton) might serve to have people question the
'sanctity' of patents.  Note again the misinformation that 'According to
World Trade Organisation agreements, governments can issue compulsory
drug licenses ...in case of a national public health emergency.')


http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329818608-106925,00.html

Clinton backs violation of Aids drug patents

David Batty and agencies
Wednesday May 9, 2007

Guardian Unlimited

Bill Clinton has backed moves by several developing countries to break
Aids drugs patents held by US pharmaceutical companies to reduce the
huge cost of tackling the disease.

The former US president also announced that his charitable foundation
had negotiated cut prices for generic versions of Aids medicines,
including 16 second-line drugs - needed if the original treatments fail
- and a new one-a-day pill that most developing countries cannot afford.

The deal struck with the generic drug manufacturers, Cipla and Matrix,
will halve the cost of the drugs for better-off developing countries and
cut prices by 25% in poorer countries, which are already paying lower
prices.

It will lower prices in 66 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and
the Caribbean, with the new one-a-day pill costing less than $1 (50p) a day.

Mr Clinton said: "Seven million people in the developing world are in
need of treatment for HIV/Aids. We are trying to meet that need with the
best medicines available today, and at prices that low and middle-income
countries can afford."

Thailand and Brazil are the latest countries to break patents held by US
pharmaceutical companies that are charging prices Mr Clinton has
described as excessive.

The Thai health minister, Mongkol Na Songkhla, today said Mr Clinton
supported his country's move to break patents on three Aids medications.

"Clinton explicitly gave Thailand ... full support for its decision that
will help poor people in the country gain access to medication," he said
on a visit to the US to defend the policy.

Mr Mongkol said the Thai government could only afford to provide the
drugs to a fifth of the 500,000 Thais living with HIV due to the high
cost of the treatments.

He said the move would cut the cost of the Aids drugs, Kaletra and
Aluvia, to $695 per patient per year. This is significantly cheaper than
the latest offer by Abbott Laboratories, which makes Kaletra, to provide
the drug at a cost of $1,000 per patient per year.

The US recently added Thailand to its annual priority watch list of
nations where American companies face particular problems protecting
intellectual property rights.

Countries on the list are under extra scrutiny and could face trade
sanctions if violations worsen.

"We want to explain that it was an unfair punishment," said Mr Mongkol.

He said Thailand's decision had not broken any international or domestic
law. According to World Trade Organisation agreements, governments can
issue compulsory drug licenses for non-commercial use in their
countries, allowing the manufacture, import and sale of cheaper generic
versions of patented drugs in case of a national public health emergency.

Around 39.5 million people worldwide are living with HIV/Aids, according
to the World Health Organisation. Since the 1970s, around 25 million
people have died of Aids.

Around 750,000 people worldwide are currently receiving drug treatments
for Aids through the Clinton Foundation.