[Ip-health] IP-Watch: Pharmaceutical Patent Pools Seen As A Life And Death Matter In Kenya

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Intellectual Property Watch



Pharmaceutical Patent Pools Seen As A Life And Death Matter In Kenya

NAIROBI - At the headquarters of UNITAID and other groups seeking to boost
access to HIV/AIDS medicine, the notion of a patent pool where drug
companies would combine their intellectual property is seen as an important
way to drive down drug costs. In the Kenyan capital Nairobi, home of AIDS
activist Nelson Otwoma, the patent pool is a matter of life and death.

Otwoma is the chairman of the National Empowerment Network of People Living
with HIV/AIDS in Kenya, or NEPHAK. He has watched people simply go without
treatment - and lose the battle with HIV - because they can=92t afford
antiretroviral drugs, particularly second-line medicines.

=94People understand that if we pressure pharmaceutical companies,
governments, and researchers to put their patents in the pool, drugs will b=
e
cheaper and better,=94 Otwoma told Intellectual Property Watch. =93They hav=
e an
interest in us. Those pharmaceutical companies want to have communities on
their side. It=92s a matter of public relations. I don=92t think they are s=
o
insensitive that they don=92t want to listen to what we are saying.=94

Otwoma is one of the hundreds of HIV/AIDS activists across Africa who have
been pushing for a patent pool as quickly as possible, hoping to whip up a
sense of passion among those who might not appreciate the urgent need for
cheaper medicines in places like Kenya, or understand that the patent pool
may be the only way to bring prices down.

To its advocates, a patent pool would bring crucial drugs into the hands of
more Kenyans. Drug companies agree to put their patents in one place, and
drug manufacturers can buy a licence to produce a drug with that knowledge.
Competition among them will drive down the cost of doing so. Because all th=
e
patents are in one place, manufacturers will also be able to make paediatri=
c
formulations that are not normally profitable for drug companies, or produc=
e
a single pill combining the medicines patented by several companies.

It can be difficult to understand without proper explanation, a fact that
has slowed advocates from spreading the word about it. But they hope
pharmaceutical companies will realise that a patent pool is the only way
they will sell their drugs in Africa. They hope to play on a sense of moral
obligation combined with the financial fact that HIV/AIDS numbers in the
West are falling, so companies will need to look elsewhere.

=94My sense is essentially that a lot of people see this whole patent pool
idea as a new concept,=94 said Wariara Mugo, coordination manager for the
French branch of M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res in Nairobi. =93We need to mak=
e an
effort to educate people on the issue and have the health ministries and th=
e
government of Kenya buy into and lobby for the patent pool.=94

UNITAID=92s board of directors is expected to adopt a patent pool for HIV/A=
IDS
drugs in mid-December. The next step will be persuading drug companies to
contribute their patents so manufacturers can get started.

=94It=92s about collective responsibility from all the players and the
pharmaceuticals have a huge role in it,=94 said Lucy Chesire, an HIV and
tuberculosis health advocate who was diagnosed with HIV in 1992. =93Getting
drugs in the pool would mean greater competition and lower costs.=94

Kenyan officials say it now costs about US$60 to keep a patient on
first-line antiretroviral treatment for a year. Second-line drugs can cost
hundreds of dollars a month. Second-line ARVs are so out of reach for many
AIDS patients that in some rural areas of Kenya they are not even told of
the existence of a more powerful set of drugs to fight the illness. And
there aren=92t the laboratory or testing facilities to judge whether a pati=
ent
needs to make the change.

Part of the problem for advocates of the pool has been to explain that the
pric of second-line HIV/AIDS drugs will not fall on their own like the
prices for first-line drugs did. India in particular has adopted new patent
laws that restrict generics manufacturers from making second-line drugs.
Officials hope the patent pool will be the mechanism to bring down drug
costs.

=94It=92s absolutely true that there aren=92t enough people who understand =
that
(cost reductions) will not happen automatically without deliberate
intervention,=94 said Ellen =91t Hoen, head of the medicine patent pool
initiative at UNITAID.

Kenya is in the middle of a full-blown epidemic, with a seven percent
infection rate.

There are currently 300,000 Kenyans receiving HIV/AIDS drugs, which are pai=
d
for mostly by the Global Fund, the World Bank and the US President=92s Fund
for Emergency AIDS Relief. The country has also launched a campaign to
encourage more people to get tested. Kenyan government statistics show that
80 percent of the country=92s people do not know their status and many are
reluctant to learn for fear of being stigmatised.

A new HIV/AIDS strategy is expected to bring more people onto
antiretrovirals earlier in their illness, a fact that will put greater
demand on the donor system. But because of funding caps by PEPFAR limiting
numbers to 190,000 for the next five years, Kenya=92s only option is to
decrease the cost of the drugs.

=94We see we are not getting additional commitments yet the need is
increasing,=94 said Dr. Nicholas Muraguri, director of National AIDS/STI
Control Program. =93The more we can do to make sure people have access to A=
RVs
the better, and the patent pool is one of those things.=94

Intellectual Property Watch



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