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November 2002

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Fri, 15 Nov 2002 19:10:29 -0600
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M school mates,

I was just about to forward all of you the WTO and MSF article, but then I
noticed that Celia had beat me to the punch.  However, if you don't know
much about TRIPS, tiered pricing, compulsory licensing, parallel importing,
reverse engineering or reverse importing, then check out the below good
article from the Oxfam International website and the other articles on their
website that give good info about the complexities of global patent and
pharmaceutical issues:
http://www.oxfam.org/eng/pr021112_right_to_medicine.htm

Enjoy.

Quy

The right to medicines, or the right to profit from medicines

Trade ministers sitting down for discussions in Sydney this week could play
a key role in improving access to vital medicines for millions of people
across the world.

Ministers from 25 leading nations will look at the critical issue of how to
revise WTO patent rules so that poor countries can more easily import
affordable generic drugs. More than 15m people die each year from infectious
diseases and 40m have HIV/AIDS - many of these people cannot afford the
medicines that would save or prolong their lives.

Exactly one year ago, in a landmark declaration, the WTO Ministerial
Conference in Doha stated that public health should take precedence over the
patent rules enshrined in the TRIPS agreement. Ministers pledged to correct
an absurd and damaging anomaly in the agreement that allows developing
countries to import generic medicines, but restricts producer countries from
exporting them
A deadline was set at Doha and ministers pledged to deliver the changes by
the end of 2002. But in the 12 months since Doha, no change has been
achieved as rich countries, led by the US, are fighting to maintain the
status quo. Oxfam believes the rich countries, under the influence of giant
pharmaceutical companies, are blocking the changes, despite the concerns of
all developing countries. Ironically, an impasse on TRIPS could end up
derailing the entire Doha trade round, which rich countries would see as
disastrous.

Oxfam spokesperson Michael Bailey, from the Make Trade Fair campaign team,
says: "Thanks to worldwide public concern and the commitment of developing
country governments, we can get a solution to the problem, but it's not in
the bag. The big drug companies don't want to lose money from their patented
products and are lobbying hard to limit any change to the rules. But this
would render the 'solution' virtually worthless."



At Sydney, Oxfam is calling on rich countries to come into line with the
position held by developing countries. Any emerging consensus could then be
discussed and approved by all member states at the WTO Council meeting, on
December 10, in Geneva.

At the moment, TRIPS is highly discriminatory. It allows rich countries to
override medicine patents in the public interest and to commission generic
equivalents from another manufacturer but effectively denies this right to
poor countries, which are the ones that most need affordable medicines.
Almost all developing countries are caught in a Catch-22 situation. They don
't have the technology or size of market to manufacture affordable generic
versions of new medicines for themselves but TRIPS restricts any other
country from supplying them. The bottom line is that they have to either pay
the high price of the patented product - which they can ill-afford - or go
without.

Michael Bailey says: "The fact that rich countries can bargain effectively
over prices but a developing country is at the mercy of Goliath-sized
companies often bigger than its national economy, is yet one more double
standard in WTO rules."

Oxfam, along with most developing-country governments and NGOs, believes
there is a straightforward way to honor Doha and grant developing countries
the same rights to affordable medicines as those enjoyed by rich countries.
WTO should agree that countries can export generic versions of patented
products to countries where there is no patent or where it has been
legitimately suspended. This revision to TRIPS should be:

  a.. fair, permanent and permit economically viable production
  b.. beneficial to all developing countries and covers all diseases
  c.. quick, simple and easy to operate
  d.. free from extra WTO obligations on developing countries
  e.. agreed by end 2002
Oxfam believes the best legal mechanism to achieve this is for WTO ministers
to issue an authoritative interpretation of the existing TRIPS clause on
exceptions to patent rights (Article 30). The formal proposals of the
industrialised countries may appear reasonable at first sight but are
unacceptable.



The US calls for a 'waiver' on WTO trade disputes over the rule restricting
exports. This is a fatally flawed proposal, since the measure is temporary,
easily reversed and tied to excessive restrictions on its use.

The EU appears better intentioned, presenting itself as an honest broker
seeking political compromise between the US - traditionally the fierce
defender of corporate interests - and developing countries. But while it
agrees to amend TRIPS, the EU attaches even more conditions - making a
mockery of declared fine intentions. The EU proposal would exclude many
killer diseases such as pneumonia and hepatitis and would deprive 72
developing countries including Peru, the Philippines and China, from the
principal benefits.

Michael Bailey says: 'If the Europeans don't support the developing-country
position, we will end up with essentially the same rules but rigged in a
different way. The Europeans will trumpet success, but for the sick and
poor, nothing will have changed."

Oxfam believes that rich countries should not make lifting any barriers to
affordable medicines conditional upon developing-country concessions in
other areas of trade policy. It would be grossly unfair for developing
countries to have to pay twice to rectify this profoundly damaging
agreement.

As European trade officials and company lawyers have admitted to Oxfam, the
real choices surrounding this change to TRIPS do not concern technical or
legal mechanisms - they are essentially political in nature.

 Contact
For more information or arrange an interview, call Federico Monsalve on
0061-4-14016052 or Zahra Akkerhuys on 00 44 1865 312256 or 00 44 7974
313566.

 More
Cut The Cost

Press Releases




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