[Ip-health] TOI: Fake drugs: WHO body rejects MNC argument

[Malini Aisola]

http://tinyurl.com/nked89

Fake drugs: WHO body rejects MNC argument
Rupali Mukherjee, 12 September 2009

New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) regional committee has
rejected the counterfeit drugs agenda propagated by developed countries
and pharma MNCs, which is already threatening the entry of legitimate
generics exported from India. In its annual forum, the south-east Asia
region of WHO passed a resolution on September 10 that counterfeit is an
intellectual property right (IPR) issue and should not be linked to
quality and efficacy of medicines.

The resolution takes note of the fact that there is an attempt to
confuse intellectual property (IP) enforcement issues with trade and
substandard drugs, and also recognises the need to separate IP issues
from availability of safe, efficacious and quality medical products
(drugs).

The annual meeting is a forum of 11 countries including India, Thailand
and Indonesia which reviews progress made on health issues and lay down
the roadmap for future action and also in preparation for the World
Health Assembly.

Experts added that the resolution passed here will set the tone for the
other regions and WHA which will be held next year.

It also asks member states to refrain from IP enforcement activities
which compromise access to medicines. This has huge ramifications
particularly for India as consignments of generics have been seized
while in transit in Netherlands and other European countries, on
allegations of IP infringement.

This is clearly a signal of rejecting the IP enforcement agenda
advocated by pharma MNC body, International Medical Product
Anti-Counterfeit Task-force (IMPACT), industry experts say.

Countries from the south-east Asia region like India and Thailand had
opposed the IMPACT Agenda in the World Health Assembly last year, as
well as in the WHOs executive board meeting earlier in January this
year.

Developing countries have been concerned that IMPACTs focus on policy
and legislation on counterfeit drugs will be counter productive and will
create barriers to trade in and access to legitimate medicines.

Industry body Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance secretary general D G Shah
told TOI: "Though it is some improvement over the earlier resolutions,
it needs further fine tuning. Falsely labeled or mislabeled have
connotations that could include trademark. This becomes more so when one
reads mislabeled and substandard together. Instead it should be replaced
by mislabeled for ingredients".

WHO has urged member states to strengthen their national regulatory
framework to ensure access of safe, quality and affordable medicines to
all, particularly vulnerable groups. It also wants incorporation of
public health safeguards, as mandated by the Doha Declaration on the
TRIPS agreement and public health, in the states domestic intellectual
property legislation.

It further urges states to implement trade and intellectual property
policies without constraining policy space on health, including access
to safe, efficacious and quality and affordable medical products.

Significantly, it adds that WHO does not support IP policies that could
potentially undermine availability of safe and affordable medicines.



--
Malini Aisola
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20009
malini.aisola@keionline.org|Tel: +1.202.332.2670|Fax: +1.202.332.2673