[Ip-health] UN health envoy calls for more access to medicine

[Alexandra HEUMBER]

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UN health envoy calls for more access to medicine
20 Sep 2007 12:49:19 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Improving access to medicine could save 10 million
lives a year globally, a U.N. health envoy said on Thursday, recommending that
drugmakers support research for neglected diseases and cut prices in poor
countries.
Paul Hunt, an independent U.N. expert on the right to health, estimated that 2
billion people worldwide cannot get the essential drugs they need.
In about 50 recommendations released by the Office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Hunt urged drugmakers to charge less for
medicines in poorer markets and allow developing states flexibility in
accessing cheaper generics.
"It is time to identify what pharmaceutical companies should do to help
realise the human right to medicine. How can we expect pharmaceutical
companies to respect human rights if we fail to explain what they're expected
to do?" he said.
"The price of medicine in a low-income country should be less than the price
of the same or equivalent medicine in a middle-income country, which should be
less than the price of the same or equivalent medicine in a high-income
country."
Just 15 percent of the global population consumes more than 90 percent of the
world's pharmaceuticals, he added.
On patents, one of the most contentious issues in public health, Hunt said it
was important pharmaceutical companies respect World Trade Organisation (WTO)
rules and ease off lobbying for stricter patent protection in poorer states.
"The company should not extend patent duration, or file patents for new
indications for existing medicines, in low-income and middle-income
countries," his guidelines said.
Hunt, a law professor from New Zealand, said drugmakers should make public
their strategies on improving global access to medicines, and show a
commitment to help create vaccines and medicines for tropical, parasitic and
other overlooked ailments.
He did not outline any measures that would require companies to follow the
recommendations but said he would seek feedback from the pharmaceutical
industry and others on his guidelines, to be finalised in 2008.