[Pharm-policy] Oxfam on Colombia patent changes

[love@cptech.org]

http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3AYLT6NOC&live=true&tagid=ZZZ60A9VA0C&subheading=americas


Bogotá mulls new patent rules
By James Wilson in Bogotá
Published: July 1 2001 21:28GMT | Last Updated: July 2 2001 11:43GMT


Stronger patent rules in Colombia could put healthcare for the poor at
risk by bringing a sharp rise in prescription drug prices, according to
Oxfam, the UK-based charity. 

The warning extends the growing debate over how far stronger patent
legislation - supported by the global drugs industry to protect
intellectual property - is compatible with healthcare goals. So far,
debate has centred on the cost of drugs to treat high-profile diseases,
such as HIV/Aids in the poorest developing world countries. 

However, Oxfam says in Colombia's case, patients most at risk include
those needing treatment for cardiovascular illness or cancer - what it
calls "first world" diseases - unlikely to be the focus of global
efforts to provide low-cost medicines. 

"There is no chance of an initiative to counterbalance the inflationary
effects of patenting," said Kevin Watkins, an Oxfam policy adviser.
Oxfam says Colombia should challenge World Trade Organisation rules on
trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, known as Trips. 

Colombia and other member countries of the Andean Community last year
revised their common intellectual property law to be Trips-compatible.
However, the Andean nations are under US pressure to tighten their
patent safeguards further. 

Robert Zoellick, US trade representative, reported recently the Andean
legislation was "closer to Trips compliance" but still failed adequately
to protect test data submitted by drugs companies to gain marketing
approval for their products. 

Colombia is considering supplementary rules to extend protection of
clinical data but this is rejected by the country's own health ministry
and by domestic manufacturers of pharmaceuticals. 

In a report to be released this week in Colombia, citing research from a
Bogota think-tank, Oxfam says the overall cost of medicines in Colombia
could rise by up to 50 per cent if stronger safeguards in a revised
patent system are used to delay market entry for producers of competing
generic drugs. 

Colombia's gross domestic product per capita is around $2,000.
Unemployment is officially around 16 per cent and one in five lives in
poverty. Some of the country's poorest groups were among those most
likely to need expensive drugs for cancer or cardiovascular illness,
said Oxfam.