E-drug: A war against generics in Colombia
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends:
In Colombia we were very happy when the pharmaceutical giants drop the case
against South Africa court. And are very expected about the case against
Brazil in the WTO.
But few days ago, the Sanitary inspectors of the INVIMA (Like ANMAT in
Argentina or FDA in USA) detected an important amount of counterfeit drugs,
some of them generic drugs. And in an unexpected manner, the information
was manipulated, partially presented and tergiversated, and the final
result is a strong tendency to use only brand drugs and "Originals". For
most of doctors and patients, generic drugs are less expensive.
It is necessary to say that we had counterfeit og both brand and generic
drugs. But
the information in the "media" was systematically presented in a selective
and interested way : "generic drugs are presenting quality problems". Note
the pretty difference: counterfeit VS Quality.
Months ago we had a discussion of this topic in e-drug and I want to repeat
the same point of view; Quality control is a problem in developing
countries
both for brand and generic drugs. And in the same way, is a responsibility
of
the government. If government cannot assure generic drugs, it cannot
assure
brand drugs quality either. And of course the guarantee of the producer is
not
enough in any case.
Additionally, brand drugs industry is attacking generic drugs in a very
special way. The industrial secret protection. They are asking the
government to rule a 5 - 10 years protection of the Sanitary
Authorisation
documents. The text of the proposal prohibit to use the clinical trials
and
pharmacological information to obtain a generic drug authorisation, and it
will
be necessary to repeat the whole process: the death of generics in
Colombia, I am afraid.
May be you have heard about the Colombian Health reform, and I want to tell
you that the essential drugs concept and generic substitution are the core
policies in pharmaceuticals. But if doctors and patients systematically
ask for brand drugs, the financial, administrative and practical
consequences are evident..
In the next week, some institutions like PAHO/WHO, MSF, OXFAM HAI
Colombia,
National University, National Security Institute an others, are organising
a
forum to point out these issues, and to make a "Brazil solidarity day"
We hope this forum will be the beginning of a national debate. I will tell
you the results. The lesson learned is: one never ends to surprise. The
Pharmaceutical giants combine all fighting ways.
FRANCISCO ROSSI
Tecnical Director
National network of hospitals cooperatives of Colombia.
francisco_rossi@hotmail.com
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Information and archive http://www.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.