Patent fair use
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Hello,
Perhaps you already saw the press release of M�decins sans Fronti�res
attached below, and I thought that it could interest the readers of
Nigeria-AIDS and AFRO-NETS. When I visited Botswana a UNICEF worker
told me that in Durban they had been actively demanding a lift of
patents on drugs needed for treating AIDS patients. I had the impres-
sion on this side of the Internet communication pipe, that although
entirely devoted to the good cause of helping AIDS victims, Internet
contributors are afraid of offending the interest of pharmaceutics
corporations. I think it is time to provide them with extra informa-
tion as it could generate a new momentum.
Perhaps the ultimate goal would be to favour local small-scale pro-
duction of essential medicines. About any department of chemistry can
synthesise and purify such product in small scale (a few grams). I
know that it may seem a drop, but it would create not only essential
drugs but also essential know-how. The universities of Southern Af-
rica are fit for such goal, they have state-of-the-art analytical
equipments and they also have an experience of collaborating in re-
search to share equipment. Instead of using the funds allocated for
dismantling chemical weapons to the elucidation of traditional and/or
plant medicines, Southern African chemistry departments should start
collaborating in producing essential AIDS drugs. It is time to show
that the African Renaissance is also a matter of African production
of what they need.
The move of M�decins sans Fronti�res has paved the way to a new legal
phenomenon: patent fair use, in analogy to the copyright fair use.
Large pharma and/or ICT corporations should stop claiming loss of
revenues when people cannot buy their product anyway. It is vital to
keep this concept of fair use in mind, since chemistry, biology and
medical departments who will engage in producing their own drugs will
need to also read a significant amount of the scientific literature,
for which fair use will be an essential instrument to avoid further
unnecessary spending.
Hope this helps
Christian Labadie
mailto:CLabadie@t-online.de
http://nucwww.chem.sunysb.edu/prevges/sida.html
AIDS triple therapy for less than US$ 1 per day
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MSF challenges pharmaceutical industry to match generic prices
Press release, February 7, 2001, Geneva - M�decins sans Fronti�res
(MSF) welcomes the announcement made by generic drug manufacturer Ci-
pla, that it will sell its triple-combination therapy for AIDS to MSF
for US$ 350 per year per patient and to governments for US$ 600/year.
The details of the offer request that government purchases have the
"backing of MSF," which is not practical or necessary, therefore MSF
requests that Cipla offer this price directly to governments and UN
agencies.
This offer demonstrates that the target price of US$ 200/year, set
out in an MSF report at the international AIDS conference in Durban
last July, is almost within reach. The US$ 350 price is a discount of
96.6% off the price of the same combination in the US, which would
cost about US$ 10,400.
For the short term, MSF calls on the five pharmaceutical companies
involved in the UNAIDS Accelerating Access Initiative to match the
current offer, make their prices public, and streamline the implemen-
tation process, so that drugs can be delivered as quickly as possible
to patients. The offer by Indian generic manufacturer Cipla demon-
strates that proprietary companies can immediately reduce their
prices further. On World AIDS Day, MSF called on the five companies
to lower their US prices by 95%. No company has responded positively.
Under the UNAIDS initiative, Senegal is currently paying US$ 1,008 to
US$ 1,821 per year - almost three times the generic price - while
companies have refused to disclose prices for Uganda and Rwanda.
Political commitment to combating AIDS and improving access to treat-
ment is a cornerstone of defeating this epidemic. For example, the
political commitment of the government of Brazil has successfully cut
AIDS deaths in half, largely thanks to its ability to produce generic
AIDS medicines. Large-scale quality producers, including the govern-
ment of Brazil, can both supply life-saving medicines to other devel-
oping countries and support their efforts to begin domestic produc-
tion.
Developing countries should take full advantage of their rights to
produce or import generic AIDS drugs under the WTO TRIPS agreement.
The immediate challenge is to convert this generic price into action.
The international community must now provide political, practical,
and financial support. Political support is needed for developing
countries to overcome barriers posed by patents. The UN system can
provide practical support through procurement and distribution assis-
tance. And donors can provide financial support by allocating funds
for purchase of drugs and implementation of antiretroviral treatment
programmes. An international meeting should immediately convene de-
veloping countries, UN agencies, drug manufacturers, and funders to
determine the best strategy for implementation.
Source:
http://www.msf.org/advocacy/accessmed/reports/2001/02/pr-triple/index.htm
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