E-drug: Attaran/Gillespie-White and PhRMA patent survey (cont'd)
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Joint Statement by Oxfam, Treatment Action Campaign, Consumer
Project on Technology (CPT) M�decins Sans Fronti�res (MSF) and
Health GAP, 16 October 2001
Patents Do Matter in Africa
According to NGOs
NGOs which are treating people with AIDS and working to improve
access to medicines say patents block affordable, easier-to-take
medicines from reaching people who need them. This is in sharp
contrast to a 17 October communication co-authored by Amir
Attaran of the Harvard Center for International Development and
Lee Gillespie-White of the International Intellectual Property
Institute, "Do Patents for Antiretroviral Drugs Constrain Access to
AIDS Treatment in Africa". The publication claims that "patents in
Africa have generally not been a factor in either pharmaceutical
economics and antiretroviral drug treatment access."
The findings of this paper have been extensively used by industry
to back their claim that patents are not an issue. The
pharmaceutical company Merck has also funded one of the authors.
The NGOs agree with the "special communication's" claim that
many barriers impede access to health care in Africa, and support
their call for international financial aid to fund antiretroviral
treatment.
However, they believe that the data presented in the paper do not
support the conclusions drawn, but actually shed light on the extent
of patent barriers to treatment. In African countries, the most
practical and sought after combinations include fixed dose
medicines (2 drugs in one pill) and affordable non-nucleosides. The
most popular combination of AZT/3TC is patented in 37 out of 53
countries and the only affordable non-nucleoside (nevirapine in
generic form) is patented in 25 out of 53 countries.
Many of the non-patented drugs listed in the study, including some
of the protease inhibitors, are not practical as first-line treatments in
resource-poor settings because of side effects (which need to be
monitored) and cumbersome dietary requirements. The study data
show that patents are concentrated in countries where
pharmaceutical markets are the largest. In South Africa, which has
4.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS and represents half of the
pharmaceutical market in Africa, 13 out of 15 antiretroviral
treatments are patent protected. In fact, half of the people with
HIV/AIDS in Africa live in countries with significant patent barriers
on antiretroviral drugs.
The authors claim that even if prices of patented ARVs come down,
African countries cannot afford them. But since generic triple
therapies can now cost as little as US$ 30 a month, significant
numbers of individuals and employers can afford the treatment, if it
were not for patents. Patented prices are still three times higher
than generic prices. This means that for a given amount of
international aid, three times as many people can be treated if
generic production is allowed.
This misleading "communication" seems to be an attempt to
sabotage a process initiated by the developing world, which seeks
to ensure that patents will no longer be a barrier for access to
medicines. A draft declaration calling for a pro-public health
interpretation of TRIPS was put forward by 60 developing countries
in the September 2001 TRIPS council session on access to
medicines. The declaration, signed by 41 African nations, states
that "nothing in the TRIPS agreements shall prevent members from
taking measures to protect public health." The declaration, which
will be considered at the next WTO ministerial conference, has been
opposed by the United States, Switzerland, Japan and Canada.
If nothing changes, beginning in 2006, all WTO Members will be
obligated to grant twenty-year minimum patents for medicines. For
this reason, it is critical that the false conclusions drawn from the
data do not lead people to believe that patents are not an issue in
access to life-saving medicines.
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