AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 4 Oct 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 4 Oct 2001
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WTO Delegates From Developing Countries Propose Clarifying TRIPS Lan-
guage to Facilitate Access to Cheaper AIDS Drugs

World Trade Organization delegates from 52 developing countries on 
Sept. 19 asked other WTO ministers to approve a proposal that would 
clarify language in the Trade-Related Aspects of International Prop-
erty Rights (TRIPS) agreement to say that TRIPS would "not prevent 
governments from taking measures necessary to protect public health," 
including the production or importation of generic AIDS drugs. The 
countries submitted a draft of their proposal to WTO delegates gath-
ered at last month's TRIPS Council Special Discussion on access to 
medicines. The draft called on the WTO members to "state, without 
qualification, that the TRIPS agreement shall not prevent governments 
from taking measures necessary to protect public health" (Ox-
fam/MSF/TWN release, 9/20). The proposal specifically asked the min-
isters to "recognize that the TRIPS text grants the WTO member states 
sufficient flexibility to enact health policies that ensure access to 
affordable medicines without necessarily constituting a violation of 
intellectual property rights." Governments of developing nations 
would also be permitted to engage in compulsory licensing and paral-
lel importation. In addition, developing nations would be protected 
from "any legal action for alleged violations of the TRIPS accord, 
including the lawsuits" currently pending in several countries 
(IPS/Global Treatment Access Campaign release, 9/20).

U.S. Opposes Proposal

The countries' proposal, however, was blocked by the United States 
and Switzerland, whose arguments against the proposal were supported 
by Japan, Australia and Canada. During the special session, the 
United States presented a paper stating that "there is essentially no 
problem with the [TRIPS] agreement and no need for clarifications." 
The European Union "accepted some of the concerns" put forth by the 
developing nations, but "stopped well short of full endorsement" of 
their request (Oxfam/MSF/TWN release, 9/20). Paul Davis, coordinator 
of domestic and government affairs for the AIDS group Health GAP Coa-
lition, said that if the United States and Switzerland had not op-
posed the countries' proposal, delegates at the session would have 
likely supported it. Such approval would have allowed the proposal to 
go into effect "more or less immediately" before being brought up 
during the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference, which is scheduled to 
be held Nov. 9-13 in Doha, Qatar. If delegates at last month's meet-
ing had agreed to the proposal, it would likely have been ratified 
"without controversy" at the Doha summit, Davis stated. He added that 
the WTO ministers on both sides of the issue will likely try to work 
out a compromise proposal to present at the Doha conference. If they 
do not come to a compromise, the issue will be debated during the 
conference.

Subject of Intense Debate

AIDS activists have criticized the U.S.-backed paper, stating that 
the United States is putting profits over human lives by rejecting 
the countries' proposal. Davis stated, "It's pretty excessive that in 
the middle of a health catastrophe where 8,000 people a day are dying 
from a lack of medicine that [U.S. Trade Representative] Robert Zoel-
lick is insisting on enforcement of monopoly protections on medicines 
in countries that constitute no market." Khalil Elouardighi, a 
spokesperson from ACT UP Paris, added, "The rich countries are still 
using the WTO to block accepted treatment and a lot of people in AIDS 
organizations are demanding that the WTO firmly support the rights of 
poor countries to use drug copies" (Meredith McGroarty, Kaiser Daily 
HIV/AIDS Report, 10/4). The aid group Oxfam U.K. said that blocking 
the countries' requests will further detract from the credibility of 
the patent system. An Oxfam statement said, "Given that the develop-
ing country paper is making extremely modest proposals, its rejection 
by the industrialized countries would bring the TRIPS agreement and 
the patents system further into disrepute, reduce the chances of con-
sensus over a new round of trade talks and further damage the public 
standing of the WTO" (Oxfam statement, 9/20). In a joint press re-
lease, Oxfam, Medicins Sans Frontieres and Third World Network said 
that the handling of the issue of AIDS drugs will have larger impli-
cations for trade and public health. Cecilia Oh of Third World Net-
work said, "The response of the industrialized countries to the prob-
lems with TRIPS is the litmus test for whether the WTO will put peo-
ple's needs before the commercial interests of its most powerful mem-
bers" (Oxfam/MSF/TWN release, 9/20). ACT UP Paris is urging WTO Di-
rector-General Michael Moore to encourage efforts to broaden poorer 
countries' access to cheaper AIDS medicines, stating that "it is the 
director's moral duty to respond to people with AIDS and ... NGOs, 
and to officially support developing countries' request for access to 
health" (ACT UP Paris release, 9/19).

Rounding Up Support for Generic Medicine Proposal

More than 35 AIDS and health groups, including ACT UP Paris, ACT UP 
New York, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Family Health Interna-
tional and the Health GAP Coalition, signed an open letter to the WTO 
calling on trade delegates to approve the developing nations' pro-
posal. "In spite of recent assurances by certain political leaders, 
the practical policy of [the United States and the European Union] is 
to deny poorest countries, through covert economic threats, the right 
to implement legal provisions which they themselves use commonly in 
fields other than health. ... It is paramount that developing coun-
tries now be left to produce and distribute quality, affordable ge-
neric drugs in peace, without fear of economic retaliation," the let-
ter states, adding, "Beyond the moratorium required by the African 
countries, the rules of the game need to be changed. The WTO cannot 
be allowed to block access to health" (ACT UP Paris Web site, 10/4). 
In addition, Oxfam U.K. features on its Web site its "Health Before 
Wealth" campaign, which encourages viewers to "demand [that] the WTO 
change its patent rules." The campaign includes an online petition to 
which readers can add their name and resident country (Oxfam U.K. Web 
site, 10/4).

Drug Companies Fight Back

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associa-
tions issued a press release in response to the special session 
criticizing the developing nations' proposal. Calling the proposal 
"inappropriate and unjustified," the organization cites statistics 
indicating intellectual property rights are "not a barrier to access 
to medicines." The release states that 95% of the medicines "consid-
ered by the World Health Organization as 'essential drugs' are non-
patented," adding that the "real barriers" to access to health care 
in poorer countries include lack of funding for health services and 
problems with health care facilities and staff (IFPMA release, 9/21). 
Several IFPMA officials added that efforts to broaden TRIPS would 
prompt drug firms to decrease their research and development for AIDS 
drugs. Dr. Rolf Krebs, chair of the German drug firm Boehringer 
Ingelheim and president of IFPMA, said, "More flexibility in TRIPS 
would be disastrous for continuing investment in research and devel-
opment on AIDS." Harvey Bale, director general of IFPMA, added that 
the number of AIDS drugs under development has declined over the past 
three years "as a campaign against the big [pharmaceutical] companies 
ha[s] unfolded." Bale and Krebs said that if patent regulations are 
eased for HIV/AIDS drugs, investors in drug firms would pressure the 
firms to "focus on other diseases that caused less controversy, like 
cancer" (Evans, Reuters, 9/19). The release states, "IFPMA calls on 
all [WTO] member states to take an active role in supporting strong 
implementation and enforcement of the TRIPS agreement and other rele-
vant WTO actions to protect innovation and promote access to quality 
health care worldwide. The industry reaffirms that coordinated and 
sustainable efforts must be made to improve access to HIV/AIDS drugs. 
Measures which focus on weakening intellectual property rights in the 
name of 'improving access,' however, will actually divert decision-
makers away from addressing the real barriers to access" (IFPMA re-
lease, 9/21). 

--
The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, 
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National 
Journal Group Inc. c 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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