[Ip-health] IHT: Canada confirms to WTO it will be first to export cheap, generic AIDS drugs

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/05/business/EU-FIN-WTO-Rwanda-Cheap-Drugs.php

Canada confirms to WTO it will be first to export cheap, generic AIDS drugs

The Associated Press
Friday, October 5, 2007

GENEVA: Canada has become the first nation to invoke a provision
allowing it to export a cheap, generic version of patented AIDS drugs,
the World Trade Organization said Friday.

"The triple combination AIDS therapy drug, TriAvir, can now be made and
exported to Rwanda, which is unable to manufacture the medicine itself,"
a WTO statement said.

Canada's notification that it would make use of the so-called
"compulsory license" procedure completes action that began July 17 when
Rwanda informed the WTO that it would invoke the provision in ordering
the drugs from Canada.

That was "the first notification from any government that it has
authorized a company to make a generic version of a patented medicine
for export under special WTO provisions agreed in 2003," WTO said.

Under WTO rules, countries can issue compulsory licenses to disregard
patent rights, but only after negotiating terms with the patent owners.

Rwanda said originally that it intended to import 260,000 packs of
TriAvir fixed-dose combination product of zidovudine, lamivudine and
Nevirapine over two years. The drug is being made in Canada by Apotex
Inc., which is calling it ApoTriavir.

"Both notifications were required for the medicine to be exported to
Rwanda," WTO said. The accord eases the way for countries with public
health problems to import cheaper generics made under compulsory
licensing elsewhere when they are unable to manufacture the medicines
themselves.

Combivir, made by Britain's GlaxoSmithKline PLC, contains lamivudine and
zidovudine. Nevirapine is a generic version of Viramune, made by
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH of Germany.

Boehringer Ingelheim issued a statement saying it "not only does not
object to the grant of this authorization under Canada's Access to
Medicines Regime but does support the CIPO (Canada Patent Office)
decision in this respect."

Jack Kay, president and chief operating officer of Apotex, said, "We are
doing this on a not-for-profit basis and hope that this life-saving drug
gets to the thousands of patients in Africa dying every month; the
Canadian Federal Government must change the process to get quality
affordable medicines to those who have no access."

Many AIDS patients have developed resistance to older anti-retrovirals
and now need more expensive, second-line drugs. The international aid
group Oxfam says the patent-busting procedure is almost never used
because developing countries face pressure from rich governments acting
on behalf of their drug companies.

Brazil and Thailand have recently issued compulsory licenses to develop
cheap generic versions of American AIDS drugs, among other medicines.
Industry groups criticized the countries, and the United States later
placed Thailand on its copyright watch list.

The United Nations says some 190,000 Rwandans, or 2.1 percent of the
population, are living with HIV.
___

Associated Press writer Bradley S. Klapper contributed to this report.

--
Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney
judit.rius@keionline.org

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.: +1.202.332.2670, Ext 18  Fax: +1.202.332.2673