[Ip-health] News release: First-ever compulsory licence issued under Canada's Access to Medicines Regime

[Richard Elliott]

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NEWS RELEASE



For immediate release



FIRST-EVER COMPULSORY LICENCE ISSUED UNDER

CANADA=92S ACCESS TO MEDICINES REGIME

But MPs must simplify law to make it truly effective, says Legal Network



TORONTO, September 21, 2007 =97 The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network welcome=
d
yesterday=92s announcement by the Commissioner of Patents that the first
compulsory licence has been issued under Canada=92s Access to Medicines
Regime, paving the way for an affordable AIDS drug to be manufactured in
Canada and exported to Rwanda.



=93This is big step forward in finally getting at least one affordable
medicine from Canada to a developing country in need,=94 said Executive
Director Richard Elliott.



=93But it=92s also a wake-up call to MPs to make the Regime work more quick=
ly,
efficiently and effectively. As it stands, the Regime is too full of red
tape, and it=92s slowing down what should be a rapid response to desperate
calls from developing countries for affordable medicines of all kinds.=94



Canada=92s Access to Medicines Regime is meant to allow generic drug compan=
ies
in Canada to produce and export lower-cost versions of brand-name drugs to
developing countries. It was passed in May 2004, but has never delivered on
its promise =97 not a single pill has left Canada. The Legal Network has
repeatedly urged members of Parliament to streamline the Regime, and has

outlined the necessary measures to do so.



The compulsory licence issued yesterday allows generic drug manufacturer
Apotex Inc. to produce Apo-Triavir, a single, fixed-dose combination drug
that helps treat people living with HIV/AIDS. Apo-Triavir combines three
patented brand-name drugs: zidovudine, lamivudine and nevirapine. Two month=
s
ago, Rwanda notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of its intention to
import

260 000 packs of Apo-Triavir from Canada over the next two years.



=93It=92s taken over three years just to get this close to filling a single
order for a single drug. Even if this order goes through, there=92s clearly=
 a
lot that=92s wrong with the Regime. We=92ve told MPs how to fix it. Now we =
need
them to act,=94 concluded Elliott.



About the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (www.aidslaw.ca) promotes the human
rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, in Canada and
internationally, through research, legal and policy analysis, education, an=
d
community mobilization. The Legal Network is Canada=92s leading advocacy
organization working on the legal and human rights issues raised by
HIV/AIDS.



=96 30 =96



For more information, please contact:



Leon Mar

Director of Communications

Telephone: +1 416 595-1666 ext. 228

E-mail: lmar@aidslaw.ca

Website: www.aidslaw.ca



_________________________________

Richard Elliott

Executive Director

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

+1 (416) 595-1666 ext. 229



Directeur g=E9neral

R=E9seau juridique canadien VIH/sida

+1 (416) 595-1666 poste 229



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