[Ip-health] Frankfurt: Another seizure of generic medicines

[Christian Wagner-Ahlfs]

Another seizure of generic medicines destined for a developing country, this
time in Frankfurt.
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Press release 5 June 2009
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Call on the EU to allow life-saving generic medicines to reach world's poor

A shipment of the antibiotic, Amoxicillin, manufactured in India and
destined for the Republic of Vanuatu in the Pacific,
was seized by customs officials on 5 May, 2009, while in transit through
Frankfurt, Germany. Amoxicillin is an essential
medicine used to treat a wide range of bacterial infections

Health Action International (HAI), Oxfam International, BUKO-pharma, Medico
International and Third World Network
urge the German customs to provide full and transparent information about
this seizure and call on the European
Commission to take immediate steps to ensure that its regulations and laws
do not deny developing countries timely
access to essential medicines.

In this latest case, customs authorities seized a shipment of 3,047,000
pills of Amoxicillin (250 mg), worth
approximately 28,000 Euros for four weeks before releasing it to Vanuatu.
The batch was detained on grounds of
suspected trademark infringement. This quantity of tablets is equivalent to
76,000 courses of treatment. Customs
authorities then informed GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which received the letter
on 13 May. Seven days later, GSK
informed the German customs authorities that there was no trademark
infringement. GSK is the former patent holder
for "Amoxil", a brand name amoxicillin.

There is no valid reason for detaining these medicines especially since the
name "Amoxicillin" is an international nonproprietary
name (INN).

This seizure is the latest in a long list of cases that demonstrate that EU
regulations are actively hampering timely
access to medicines to developing countries. In 2008 there were 17 similar
cases of seizures of medicines in the
Netherlands, often leading to the impoundment of medicines for many weeks
and even months. These seizures have
been driven by an EU Regulation on Border Measures that has empowered
customs officials and rights holders to
interfere in the legitimate trade of generic medicines. Due to actions of
overzealous customs authorities, mainly
intended to protect the private rights and profits of right holders,
developing countries are being denied timely access to
medicines.

It is now clear that rather than just being a problem of implementing a law
in the Netherlands, EC regulation 1383/2003
is in itself problematic. Sune Sveningsen, Supply Chain Director of
Missionpharma, the agency responsible for the
shipment said today: ''These random seizures seriously impact our ability to
service the healthcare needs of people
living in developing countries in a timely manner, forcing us to consider
re-designing our entire supply chain to avoid
any transit through European territories.''

Sophie Bloemen from HAI Europe commented, ''this suggests that the
detainment of legitimate generics in transit is not
just a Dutch issue, but rather a European problem that should be solved at a
European level.'' And according to David Hachfeld at Oxfam Germany, "We hope
this seizure of legitimate medicines will act as a wakeup call to the German
government to examine this growing problem and to take the necessary steps,
both in Germany and at the European level, to ensure that generic medicines
needed in poor countries are not increasingly detained and delayed across
the European Union while people fall ill in poor countries."

Health Action International (HAI) is an independent, global network, working
to increase access to
essential medicines and improve their rational use through research
excellence and evidence-based advocacy.

Contacts:
Sophie Bloemen (HAI), sophie@haiweb.org Tel. +31-(0)20 6833684

Sangeeta Shashikant (TWN), sangeeta@thirdworldnetwork.net

Bernd Eichner (Medico International), eichner@medico.de Tel. +49 (0)69
94438-0

Christian Wagner-Ahlfs (BUKO Pharma-Kampagne) cwagner@bukopharma.de Tel.
+49-431- 64 89 659

David Hachfeld (Oxfam Germany) dhachfeld@oxfam.de Tel+49 (0)30 45 30 69 19