[Ip-health] IP-Watch: Governments Urged To Use Compulsory Licences To Boost Drug Access

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php?p=3D838


23 November 2007
Governments Urged To Use Compulsory Licences To Boost Drug Access


By Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch

BANGKOK - Thai and foreign public health campaigners on Friday urged
governments to exercise their right over patent owners to provide
access to cheaper essential medicines for the poor.

They also called for a new global mechanism to encourage =93humanitarian
research=94 in which research and development of drugs should be driven
by the needs of the public rather than by market forces.

=93We confirm that compulsory licensing of patents is a legitimate,
important and effective tool to protect consumer and public
interests,=94 the campaigners said in a 23 November joint statement at
the end of a three-day meeting in Bangkok on how countries could
encourage innovation while making new drugs accessible to the
underprivileged in the society.

=93Thus every country should have the rights to systematically and
routinely use compulsory licensing and other means under TRIPS
flexibility similarly to wealthy countries,=94 the statement continued.
TRIPS refers to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-
related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The meeting was jointly sponsored by UNAIDS, World Health
Organization, Oxfam, Medecins Sans Frontieres and two major Thai
agencies working on health issues. No multinational pharmaceutical
companies were represented in the meeting.

However, coinciding with the meeting, companies, through their offices
in Thailand, ran full-paged advertisements in Thai and English
language dailies defending their position in support of investments in
drug research. =93New drug discoveries help doctors save lives,=94 said
the banner headlines in the Bangkok Post newspaper.

Participants - who were government officials, health campaigners and
representatives of patient networks - praised the Thai government for
its imposition in the past year of compulsory licences on two patented
anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for HIV/AIDS patients and another anti-
coagulant for treating heart disease.

Carlos Passarelli, who works at the Ministry of Health in Brazil, said
the Thai case inspired the Brazilian government to resort to
compulsory licensing on efavirenz, an antiretroviral drug, in May 2007.

Indonesia, another country which imposed compulsory licensing on ARVs
before Thailand, also said the Thai action has a greater impact on the
drug patent owners as Thailand has a larger population affected with
HIV/AIDS, and that has set a precedent for Indonesia on how to deal
with the multinational drug companies.

=93We recognised and applauded Thailand=92s leadership in the use of
compulsory licensing to overcome legal monopolies,=94 said the meeting
statement. =93Thailand=92s continued leadership on compulsory licensing is
important, but so too will be the actions of other countries.=94

Apart from the three drugs, the Thai government has singled out four
more medicines for treating various kinds of cancer for possible
issuance of compulsory licences. Thai officials have been negotiating
with the patent owners of these drugs and some of these companies
showed greater leniency in the latest round of talks.

Participants at the meeting also said current drug research and
development mainly responded to the needs of the rich in developed
countries, which are the key market of multinational drug companies,
while neglecting diseases in developing countries.

=93Only 10 percent of the total global investment in pharmaceutical
research was directed towards neglected diseases affecting 90 percent
of world=92s population,=94 said Jakkrit Kuanpoth, who teaches law at the
University of Wollongong in Australia. Jakkrit, however, did not
believe that R&D for drugs needed in developing countries should be a
matter of philanthropy as developed nations did not have the moral
obligation to do so.

James Love of Knowledge Ecology International said drug prices should
not be linked to the cost of their research. He said there were
proposals to award prizes to drug developers related to impact on
health care.

The meeting statement then called for a new global treaty on medical
R&D that does not force countries to embrace monopolies and high drug
prices to finance medical innovation. The new system, the statement
said, should encourage R&D that addresses specific health problems of
developing countries.

The participants also pledged to work together further to share
experiences on the use of compulsory licensing and how to make
essential drugs more available to the poor. They ended with asking
Indonesia to host the next meeting to be held next year.

Sinfah Tunsarawuth may be reached at info@ip-watch.ch.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
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