[Pharm-policy] NYT: Bush Keeps Clinton Policy on Poor Lands' Need for AIDS Drugs

[Paul Davis]

Bush Keeps Clinton Policy on Poor Lands' Need for AIDS Drugs

February 22, 2001

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

PARIS, Feb. 21 — The office of the United States trade representative
said today that the Bush administration would not change the
Clinton administration's generous but contentious policy concerning
AIDS drugs for impoverished countries. 

 The Bush administration, a trade official said, will not seek
sanctions against poor countries overwhelmed by the AIDS epidemic
that try to force down the price of patented anti- AIDS drugs by
legalizing the importation or manufacture of generic versions. The
administration, the official said, will not try to punish such
countries even if American drug makers complain or American patent
laws are being broken — as long as the country adheres to the rules
agreed under World Trade Organization treaties. 

 The decision surprised groups fighting to get cheaper AIDS drugs
for Africa and other places where $10,000-a-year anti-retroviral
therapy is out of reach of most AIDS sufferers. They had feared
that a Republican administration would reverse the Clinton policy,
a policy that displeases the multinational pharmaceutical
companies. "We're pretty glad about this," said Paul Davis of the
Philadelphia chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. "Folks
are cautiously optimistic that, instead of the United States
throwing up roadblocks, it will facilitate bulk purchases of
affordable generic drugs." Mr. Davis said he wanted to see if the
policy would apply beyond Africa, in places like Brazil, India,
Thailand, Romania and other countries that are poor but have their
own drug industries.

 The Clinton policy itself was an about-face in late 1999. Until
then the administration had aggressively threatened sanctions
against countries that wrote laws allowing compulsory licensing —
the seizure of patents in certain emergencies — even though United
States law allows compulsory licensing in antitrust cases and other
circumstances. 

 Members of the staff of the Bush- appointed United States trade
representative, Robert Zoellick, were very cautious today, but one
gave an informal statement saying the trade representative "is not
considering a change in the present flexible policy." 

 "Consistent with our overall effort to protect America's
investment in intellectual property," the statement said, the
United States trade representative "will seek to contribute to
administration efforts to work with countries that develop serious
programs to prevent and treat this horrible disease." 

 Shannon Herzfeld, a spokeswoman for Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, tried to minimize the announcement,
saying it was "not big news" and only meant that Mr. Zoellick would
consult with other members of Mr. Bush's cabinet before taking
actions that would affect public health. 

 James Love, who heads the campaign by a Ralph Nader group, the
Consumer Project on Technology, to push down the price of drugs and
who pressed the trade representative's office for a clear
declaration of the new administration's policy, was celebratory,
however. He responded to the industry's diminishment of the
announcement by saying, "They hate admitting they lost." 

 In another announcement that could push down the price of AIDS
drugs, a second Indian manufacturer of generic drugs said it would
start making anti-retroviral drugs. The decision by Ranbaxy
Laboratories Ltd. of New Dehli, India's third-largest drug company,
means there will be competition even between low- cost producers
with active export businesses. 
        


http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/22/health/22DRUG.html?ex=983858093&ei=1&en=33629e321f1cdd57



-- 
Paul Davis
pdavis@critpath.org
Health GAP Coalition
ACT UP Philadelphia

+1.215.731.1844 ACT UP tel.
+1.215.731.1845 fax
+1.215 474.6886 direct