[Pharm-policy] Petersen in NYT on bulk purchasing, and what are the real policy choices for the HIV Fund?

[love@cptech.org]

The Melody Peterse story below about the issue of using a bulk puchase
fund for the HIV fund does not deal directly with the real policy
choices facing the UN.  Clearly the UN will not buy from a generic
supplier for a market where a drug is protected by patent, and the
generic company does not have a license for the patent.  However, there
are two cases where the UN might or might not buy from the low cost
supplier.

1.  In countries where the brand name company does not have a valid
patent, which for some HIV drugs (ddI, d4T, AZT in some countries,
several protease inhibitors, countries taking advantage of the TRIPS
transition periods, for example) is quite important. 

2.  In countries where the generic suppliers obtain a TRIPS compliant
compulsory license.

In those cases the "legitimate" legal rights of the patent owner will
have been protected in the country where the products are used.  

So the real question about the fund is, will it require TRIPS plus
protections of medicines, or purchases from Brand name products even in
markets were the generics can legally compete?  This is the issue that
Jeffrey Sachs addressed in the Hosbjor meeting, where he urged UNAIDS
and the WHO to buy from the brand name companies, even in markets where
they did not hold patents.  

  Jamie

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/22/business/22DRUG.html?searchpv=nyt 

June 22, 2001 
 
Bid System Could Be Used for AIDS

By MELODY PETERSEN

The price of drugs for tuberculosis fell by more than one-third when the
World Health Organization set up a program for buying them in bulk and
asked drug companies to compete against one another to offer the best
price, agency officials said yesterday.

The price reductions are significant because the program for buying
large quantities of tuberculosis drugs could serve as a model for buying
AIDS drugs for Africa and other developing countries.

   [snip]
 
  
But unlike the tuberculosis drugs, the AIDS drugs are newer and in many
countries have patents that protect them from generic competition.

The W.H.O. has said that it supports the use of generic drugs as long as
their quality is ensured and their use does not violate patent laws.

Dr. Heymann said he could not say whether manufacturers of generic drugs
would be allowed to provide AIDS medicines for purchase by the new
global fund. Officials are expected to decide later this summer how the
fund will be set up.

Mark E. Grayson, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, the trade group for companies that make
brand-name drugs, said yesterday that the companies would oppose any
effort to have manufacturers of generic drugs provide medicines that are
protected by patents.

"The global fund should abide by intellectual property laws," Mr.
Grayson said, adding that the brand- name-drug companies had already
offered to sell their AIDS drugs at steep discounts in developing
countries.

    [snip]