[Random-bits] KEI statement on brazil compulsory license on efavirenz

Fri May 4 11:46:01 2007

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&task=3Dview&id=3D4=
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KEI Statement on Brazil Compulsory License on efavirenz.

Statement of James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International,
+1202.361.3040, james.love@keionline.org
4 May 2007

=93Brazil=92s decision to issue a compulsory license on the patents for
the AIDS drug efavirenz is an important first step to implement the
Doha Declaration=92s requirement that the WTO TRIPS agreement =93should
be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO Members'
right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access
to medicines for all.=94  We wish Brazil had done this in 2001, when it
was first proposed.

"Journalists should mention that this is the fourth time since 2005
that a national government has issued a compulsory license on Merck's
products.   These include  2005 and 2007 compulsory licenses issued
by the Italian competition authority and a November 2006 compulsory
license on efavirez patents by the Thailand Ministry of Health.  (See
links below).

=93Brazil has a large and growing population of AIDS patients, and
treatment cannot be sustainable without affordable access to the same
new drugs that AIDS patients in the U.S. and Europe use.

=93With Brazil and Thailand expanding the market for generic versions
of Efavirenz, greater economies of scale should push prices down
further, eventually to less than $.24 per day.  We hope also that
Efavirenz can be included in new generic fixed dose combinations,
including those using TDF and FTC, products now sold by Gilead, and
licensed to some generic producers in some countries.

=93At some point, it will be helpful to reassess the business model for
medicines in developing countries.  Negotiations with patent owners
rarely produce affordable prices.  Competition is more effective.
Brazil should go far beyond this single product, and create a system
of collective management of intellectual property rights that would
extend compulsory license for either all prescription medicines, or a
set of essential medicines that includes not only AIDS, but other
important health problems, like diabetes, cancer, or heart disease.

=93Concerns over R&D should be addressed, but through new thinking
about innovation.  Brazil should break the link between drug prices
and R&D incentives, by introducing innovation prizes, that reward
drug developers for improving health outcomes in Brazil.

http://www.agcm.it/agcm_eng/COSTAMPA/E_PRESS.NSF/
92e82eb9012a8bc6c125652a00287fbd/28653b373e56772ac12572ab003a4d68
*PRESS RELEASE* *PHARMACEUTICALS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY RULES MERCK
MUST GRANT FREE LICENCES FOR THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT FINASTERIDE*

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&task=3Dview&id=3D4=
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Recent examples of compulsory licensing of patents

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&task=3Dview&id=3D4=
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Abbott recently sought compulsory license in US patent dispute

----------------------------------------------
James Packard Love
Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionline.org
james.love@keionline.org
Washington, DC +1.202.332.2670

"If everyone thinks the same: No one thinks." Bill Walton"