Call to action after breakthrough on patents
pharmafile | November 26, 2003 | News story | |Â Â Â
The World Health Organisation has called for massively increased efforts to distribute antiretrovirals in the developing world to cut unnecessary deaths from HIV/AIDS.
The call has been renewed following the breakthrough on global medicines patents at the end of August, giving the green light to cheaper medicines where there is a genuine need.
The agreement means that a principle established two years ago in Doha will now be put into practice; poorer countries will now be able to bypass patents and import generic versions of essential medicines in public health emergencies.
Supachai Panitchapakdi, Director General of the WTO hailed the agreement.
"The final piece of the jigsaw has fallen into place, allowing poorer countries to make full use of the flexibilities in the WTO intellectual property rules to deal with the diseases that ravage the people."
The US pharmaceutical industry lobby have been delaying agreement for some time, but the wording of the agreement and safeguards to prevent cut-price drugs finding their way back into high price markets have reassured industry negotiators.
Chairperson of the WTO General Council Carlos Perez del Castillo, Uruguay's ambassador issued a statement summing up the spirit of the agreement, describing the "shared understanding" that the agreement should be used in good faith to protect public health and not for commercial advantages.
While all sides recognised the deal as a breakthrough, an alliance of non-governmental agencies led by Medicins Sans Frontieres said the deal was "presented as a gift to the poor," but that it was a "'gift' bound tightly in red tape." Among MSF objections are that two compulsory licences have to be issued before countries can use the mechanism, and that the exclusion of commercial gain leaves the role of generic manufacturers unclear.
Nevertheless, aid agencies and WHO are now concentrating efforts on helping the worst hit countries make the most of the new rules.
WHO has announced it is to set up a bulk-buying facility for AIDS drugs to increase access and drive prices down. The idea is one of a handful the organisation has proposed to meet its '3 by 5' plan of having three million people in developing countries on antiretroviral by 2005.
Dr Jong-Wook Lee, Director-General of WHO said the plan would need radical change to increase the total from the present 50,000 people on the drugs.
"To deliver antiretroviral treatment to the millions who need it, we must change the way we think and change the way we act. Business as usual will not work. Business as usual means watching thousands of people die every single day.The pharma industry has doubled the number of people benefiting from its preferential pricing schemes this year to just over 76,000, but representatives recognise this is still inadequate."
UNAIDS has now set out a number of key recommendations to tackle the disease, including measures to prevent further infections and investment in healthcare infrastructure and training.
