[Pharm-policy] RE: [Ip-health] South African Ministers Unable to Respond to AIDS DrugsOffer

[Toby Kasper]

Hi all,

In the interest of a fuller understanding of the South African Minister of
Health's recent comments, I've included below two things: some excerpts
(verbatim text from a printed version) of the Minister's speech to a WHO
conference on access to medicine taking place this week in Pretoria, South
Africa, and the official press release from the SADC meeting.
They demonstrate the high level of interest in the region in using
mechanisms such as compulsory licensing and parallel importing to facilitate
access to drugs to treat HIV/AIDS.
Best,
Toby Kasper
Médecins Sans Frontières - South Africa


FROM A PRINTED VERSION OF THE MINISTER'S SPEECH

"[bullet 3] Having resources and competencies that will ensure that we
select and acquire drugs in the most cost effective way from various
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers throughout the world.  This will invariably
involve parallel importing and compulsory licencing.
"And may I take a brief moment here to state categorically, and
emphatically, that our government's stated policy is to pursue both parallel
importing and compulsory licencing... We will pursue our twin goals of
parallel importing and compulsory licencing with vigour, determination, and
everything else that we have at our disposal."



PRESS RELEASE

1. A meeting of SADC Health Ministers took place at the Manhattan Hotel,
Pretoria, on 17 June 2000.

2. This was a special meeting in response to the announcement  made by five
pharmaceutical companies that they woul start a dialogue with United
Nations organisations to explore ways to accelerate and improve the
provision of  HIV/AIDS related care and treatment in developing countries.

The meeting aimed at adressing two major challenges:

3. Discussions on TRIPS, with particular emphasis on both possibilities and
limitations it presents in meeting the objective of improved ACCESS.

Particular emphasis was placed on discussing such concepts as:

a) Parallel importation of drugs
b) Compulsory licensing of drugs
c) the role of the "Bolar" provision (which facilitates the immediate
availability of generic drugs once a patent has expired) being provided for
in the medicines regulation process.

3.1. The meeting conculded that all three instruments would contribute to
the objective of improving access. Consequently, the meeting stressed the
need for pursuing these strategies.

3.2. Ministers reaffirmed the need for them to meet with the SADC Industry
and Trade Ministers to ensure that public health objectives are
appropriately considered in the next round of talks that will follow
Seattle.

3.3. Ministers advised that the WHO should be more actively involved in the
WTO negotiations; should promote totally independent research into
pharmaceuticals driven by the public sector, to ensure public access to the
resultant pharmaceuticals; and should draft a model law that can be used to
safeguard compulsory licensing, parallel importation, local manufacture,
and freedom to outsource for drugs necessary in the public sector.

4. The second objective of the meeting was to review the steps taken so far
or that we still to be taken on the offer from the 5 pharmaceutical
companies.

4.1. Ministers noted with strong concern that the manner in which the
proposed offer was announced could lead to alienation of governments from
their people, as the public was given the impression that the prices of
anti-retroviral drugs have been drastically reduced and immediately
available. Ministers wish to stress that as of now, no concrete offer or
mechanism to effect such an offer is in place.

4.2. Ministers reaffirmed their preparedness to enter in bonafide
discussions with these companies guided by the fundamental need to address
the health needs of the people of the peoples in the region. As a critical
test, however, any agreement entered into must be sustainable.

4.3. Ministers reiterated the need to engage in the discussions with the
aim of addressing all elements, such as infrastructure and diagnostic
services, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building that would ensure
effective delivery of medicines to the majority in developing countries.

4.4. Ministers further stressed the need for Ministers of developing
countries to take charge of the development of the negotiation process.

4.5. South Africa, as the coordinator of the SADC Health Sector, was duly
mandated to represent the region in the initial rounds of discussion and
liaise closely with the Ministers of Health of Member States of SADC.