Patent fair use (2)
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Press release [Translation]
Thursday February 1, 2001 - ACT UP-Paris
World Trade Organisation (WTO) threatens the survival of 100,000 peo-
ple living with HIV
Today [Feb. 1, 2001] around 10AM, the WTO received the request of the
USA against Brazil, and currently constitutes an arbitration panel to
judge the conformity of the Brazilian law on the intellectual prop-
erty with regards to WTO agreements.
The government of Mr. Bush estimates that this law, which allows
100,000 people living with AIDS to survive using generic antiviral
treatments, endangers the patents of its pharmaceutical companies.
It is indeed this law which makes it possible for Brazil to copy and
to produce seven antiviral since 1995 and to distribute them for free
to the Brazilian patients at a cost ten times lower than that pro-
posed by American industries. This law authorises, in accordance with
the "ADPIC" agreements on the intellectual property, the recourse to
the rare departure from the rule of respect of patents. It authorises
- for reasons of sanitary urgencies in particular - the production of
drugs normally protected by a licence without the agreement of the
owner of the patent. Protected by this exemplary legislation, Brazil
could continue its policy of free care to its people living with
AIDS, and to extend its production to the anti-protease, these new
treatments that make the triple therapies more effective.
The life of more than 100,000 people in Brazil, and that of million
to come which could benefit from the capacities of export or of a
technology transfer from Brazil, is suspended on the discussions of
the WTO.
Following the call of a co-ordination of more than one hundred Bra-
zilian NGOs devoted to fighting AIDS, ACT UP-PARIS is warning the WTO
and its analysts against the pressures of the multinationals, which
led to this unprecedented event. Indeed the case of Brazil will serve
as a precedent.
ACT UP-PARIS denounces the pressures of the pharmaceutical multina-
tionals on the American government, bought before its nomination at
cost of million dollars: the multinationals indeed spent 280 million
dollars [1 billion 700 million francs] to lobby the American elec-
tions!
ACT UP-PARIS denounces the deadly pressures of the government of Mr.
Bush on the World Trade Organisation, whose laws were dictated by the
same interests, which result today in endangering the life of several
tens of thousands of people.
ACT UP-PARIS calls the leaders of the principal international organi-
sations in charge of the development and health - UNAIDS, WHO,
UNICEF, UNDP - to make a statement in favour of protection of the
Brazilian law on the patents.
Press contact:
Julien Devemy/Sylvain Coudret
Tel: +33-1-4929-4475
Marie de Cenival
ACT UP-Paris
North-South Commission
Tel: +33-4-9508-2994
Fax: +33-1-4806-1674
mailto:planetafrica@asso.globenet.org
Source:
http://www.healthnet.org/programs/e-med-hma/e-med.200102/msg00003.html
translated by Christian Labadie
mailto:CLabadie@t-online.de
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