[Ip-health] IP-Watch: Civil Society, Elected Officials Rally Behind UNITAID Patent Pool

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/12/14/civil-society-elected-officials-r=
ally-behind-unitaid-patent-pool/

14 December 2009
Civil Society, Elected Officials Rally Behind UNITAID Patent Pool
By William New @ 8:00 pm

This week=92s consideration of an implementation plan for a medicines
patent pool by the board of oversight body UNITAID stirred a stream of
stakeholder letters from around the world. The board adopted the
implementation plan today.

[Update: the UNITAID board today approved the plan, which will begin
operating in mid-2010, according to a press release. UNITAID has
identified 19 products for potential inclusion in the pool, and will
be talking with companies to reach agreements to allow generics
companies to get cheaper versions out.]

UNITAID, a drug purchasing facility, is in the process of implementing
a patent pool for HIV/AIDS medicines, aimed at bringing lower priced
needed medicines to developing countries. The UNITAID Executive Board
is meeting on 14-15 December to discuss and approve the implementation
plan (IPW, WHO, 11 December 2009).

An 11 December letter stating support for the patent pool was sent by
US Representatives Henry Waxman and Barbara Lee, both California
Democrats, to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Global AIDS
Coordinator Eric Goosby. Waxman is chairman of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee. Their letter asked for more information about the
US AIDS programme and its efforts to lower prices and increase
accessibility of needed medicines. It also said of the UNITAID patent
pool initiative:

=94While the framework is still in its early stages, we believe it is a
promising example of a way to promote drug access and innovation while
appropriately protecting intellectual property rights and stimulating
further research and development,=94 Waxman and Lee said. =93The United
States is not an official partner in UNITAID, but our programs and
partner countries could benefit from the expanded availability a
patent pool could provide.=94

 From India, a range of civil society groups such as the National
Working Group on Patent Laws and the Centre for Trade and Development
(Centad) sent a lengthy letter dated 11 December to the board urging
greater transparency in the implementation plan process and
consideration for India=92s patent law provisions which prevent, among
other things, evergreening of existing patents, patent oppositions,
and the right to use compulsory licences. Other Indian concerns are
the possible undermining of the 2016 deadline for least-developed
countries to adopt the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), controlling
generic competition, and lack of clarity on licensing terms and
negotiations.

The Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS also sent a
letter to the board, dated 10 December, urged that the pool apply to
middle-income developing countries such as Thailand, and that existing
public health safeguards not be undermined.

Several of the civil society letters were posted to Knowledge Ecology
International=92s ip-health listserv. KEI president James Love responded
to the Indian letter and others to defend UNITAID as having limited
leverage, suggesting the voluntary pool could extend to medical
technology, and suggesting an avoidance of the debate over whether a
country can grant a patent in the first place as it is not related to
the implementation plan.

William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
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