E-DRUG: ARV & Patent debate in Kenyan Parliament (3)
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[cross-posted from afro-nets with thanks; BS]
The Government of Kenya withdrew an amendment to the Industrial
Property Act, which would have prohibited parallel imports of drugs.
This innocuous looking piece of amendment would have meant that:
1. The government and their procurement agencies would be forced to
first get consent from the medicines patent holder before shopping
around the world for the best price and importing that medicine into
Kenya
2. The government would be required to first negotiate with a patent
holder before issuing a license for a third party to manufacture or
import a medicine needed to address serious problems of medicines
supply during health emergencies
This amendment was carefully drafted to alter the detail of
Industrial Property Act of 2001 under a miscellaneous amendment bill
which would have killed the very spirit of the act which was to make
drugs cheaper.
It was surprising that during the first two readings very few members
of the parliament including the Parliamentary Health Committee
noticed the implications of the amendment.
The Director of Medical Services, Dr James Nyikal wrote to the
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs about the implications
the amendment would have on the drug prices. Members of the civil
societies wrote to the Parliament and had demonstrations against the
amendments.
On 27th July after realizing the implications of the amendment; the
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs told the Parliament it
was withdrawing the amendments
Dr.S.K.Sharif
Ministry of Health
Kenya
sksharif@ikenya.com