[Ip-health] Business Daily (Kenya): WHO talks on patents crucial (MSF)

[Clio.VAN.CAUTER@geneva.msf.org]

WHO talks on patents crucial=0D
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Alec van Gelder and Franklin Cudjoe=E2=80=99s assumptions on the purpose of=
 World=0D
Health Organization (WHO) talks on intellectual property, medical=0D
innovation and access to medicines are ill-informed, (Attack on patents=0D
hurts the poor, 9 April 2008).=0D
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Today the world relies on patents to stimulate and finance the development=
=0D
of new medicines. The pharmaceutical industry assures that such a system is=
=0D
essential, and warns of dire consequences should the system be tampered=0D
with.  A WHO expert commission dismissed this claim. It concluded that=0D
patents are irrelevant in stimulating the development of drugs for diseases=
=0D
which have insufficient commercial potential, because patients are too=0D
poor.  For many of these diseases, such as tuberculosis, the pipelines for=
=0D
new drugs remain desperately empty.=0D
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Worse, Doctors Without Borders sees all too often how the system causes=0D
medicines - when they exist at all - to be priced out of reach of those in=
=0D
need.=0D
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Kenya took heed of these stark truths - and worked to set up the=0D
forthcoming talks at the WHO, for which it should be commended.  These=0D
talks aim to find ways of financing the development of new medicines that=
=0D
respond to health needs of the poor, and affordability.=0D
Through its medical projects throughout the world, Doctors Without Borders=
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is aware of the weakness of health systems. Whether health systems are weak=
=0D
or strong, medical innovation remains worthless if it fails to respond to=
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patients=E2=80=99 needs=0D
=0D
Ellen =E2=80=98t Hoen=0D
Doctors Without Borders=0D
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines=0D
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IPN op-ed=0D
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http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&task=3Dview&id=3D687=
9&Itemid=3D5821=0D
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Attack on patents hurts the poor=0D
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Written by Alec van Gelder & Franklin Cudjoe=0D
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April 9, 2008: Activists have been trying for years to bring down the=0D
pharmaceutical industry. Their =E2=80=9Cpatients not patents=E2=80=9D campa=
ign has a=0D
simplistic appeal but will only make things worse for the poor, as well as=
=0D
distracting attention from the real causes of ill health: poverty and=0D
corruption.=0D
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The patents that protect today=E2=80=99s innovations and drive research and=
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development to create tomorrow=E2=80=99s life-saving treatments are under t=
hreat at=0D
a forthcoming World Health Organisation meeting. Ahmed Ogwell, of Kenya=E2=
=80=99s=0D
Ministry of Health, a big player in the meeting, claims that drug=0D
production, backed by intellectual property protection, =E2=80=9Chas failed=
 quite=0D
dramatically in Africa... that is why the disease burden is in fact=0D
probably increasing in some areas.=E2=80=9D=0D
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For poor Africans, intellectual property is not the issue and Kenya=E2=80=
=99s=0D
Ministry of Health should know better. Less than two per cent of the WHO=E2=
=80=99s=0D
list of essential medicines is protected by patents. In 2005, the head of=
=0D
the WHO=E2=80=99s Aids division, Kevin de Cock, said: =E2=80=9CIt is obviou=
s... that the=0D
elephant in the room is not the current price of drugs.=0D
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The real obstacle is the fragility of the health systems. You have health=
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infrastructure that is dilapidated, a health workforce that is demoralised,=
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labs that don=E2=80=99t work, supply chains that don=E2=80=99t exist and di=
agnostics that=0D
are missing.=E2=80=9D=0D
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Without these things, you can give drugs away for free and they still won=
=E2=80=99t=0D
get to the most needy. But this doesn=E2=80=99t appear to matter to activis=
t=0D
organisations like Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam. Along with the WHO,=
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they want African countries to repeat the steps taken by their current=0D
favourite, Thailand. There, the former military government issued=0D
=E2=80=9Ccompulsory licences=E2=80=9D that breach patents on some Aids medi=
cines.=0D
=0D
Screaming headlines diverted attention from what matters most in Thailand,=
=0D
as in sub-Saharan Africa: hospital closures, staff shortages and=0D
corruption. Without hospitals and doctors, cheaper drugs are not much use =
=E2=80=94=0D
and doling out sub-standard medicines can do more harm than good, as=0D
Thailand=E2=80=99s Aids drug GPO-Vir has demonstrated. In sub-Saharan Afric=
a,=0D
access to medicines remains a terribly low 50 per cent, but cost is not the=
=0D
problem.=0D
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In spite of almost US$600 million in development aid to Malawi in 2005=0D
alone, there are just two doctors for every 100,000 people there. The=0D
Global Fund is considering suspending two of Nigeria=E2=80=99s five-year gr=
ants=0D
totalling US$80 million because of mis-management.=0D
=0D
Grants to Uganda and Chad have been cancelled for similar reasons.=0D
Undermining patents is the road India trod many years ago. In 1972, a poor=
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India weakened its IP laws in the hope of cutting medicine prices.=0D
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Some drugs were certainly made cheaper but it was no panacea: at least 60=
=0D
per cent of Indians still do not have access to cheap, off-patent,=0D
medicines. Children go without routine vaccinations. Simple generic=0D
(unpatented and cheap) anti-infectives are out of reach of the majority of=
=0D
the rural poor.=0D
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Despite pumping out cheap generic Aids drugs for years, only five per cent=
=0D
of India=E2=80=99s Aids patients were receiving any drugs by the end of 200=
6.=0D
Proper IP laws were passed in 2005 and started making the country safe for=
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local and foreign investment, for innovation and for hi-tech production. In=
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spite of the activists=E2=80=99 dire forecasts, prices of medicines have no=
t shot=0D
up.=0D
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But Kenya and its activist advisors want to take Africa down that road.=0D
Unaccountable, mainly Western, organisations with narrow agendas have the=
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ear of governments at the end of April during the Intergovernmental Working=
=0D
Group on Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property.=0D
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Its recommendations will undermine intellectual property rights unless=0D
member states take a stand now. The attack on patents is not a defence of=
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patients or the poor. It is diverting attention from what really matters:=
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infrastructure, doctors and nurses. Prosperity is the key to those services=
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and intellectual property is one of the keys to prosperity: Africans must=
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not let their health and growth be damaged by populist propaganda.=0D
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Cudjoe is director of Imani, an independent policy think-tank in Ghana.=0D
Gelder is Network Director at International Policy Network, a development=
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think-tank in London.=0D
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=0D
Clio Van Cauter=0D
Campaigner/Communications Officer=0D
Medecins Sans Frontieres=0D
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines=0D
Rue de Lausanne 78=0D
1201 Geneva=0D
Switzerland=0D
Tel:+41 22 849 8403=0D
E-mail: clio.van.cauter@geneva.msf.org=0D
www.accessmed-msf.org=0D