E-drug: Bush's Aids 'gift' has been seized by industry
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[Copied as fair use. BS]
Bush's Aids 'gift' has been seized by industry giants: Now the US may
block the provision of cheap generic drugs for Africa
Naomi Klein, The Guardian, Monday 13 October 2003
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1061634,00.html
Fighting Aids was supposed to show George Bush's softer side.
"Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for
so many," he said in his State of the Union address in January.
He has since reconsidered, deciding instead to offer a few more
opportunities to the few. First he handed the top job of his global Aids
initiative to a Big Pharma boss, then he broke his $3bn promise of
Aids relief. And now there are concerns that he may sabotage a plan
to send cheap drugs to countries ravaged by Aids.
In August, the World Trade Organisation announced a new deal on
drug patents that was supposed to give poor countries facing health
problems the right to import generic drugs. But the deal seemed
unworkable: the United States, at the behest of the pharmaceutical
lobby, had successfully pushed for so many conditions that the
agreement exploded from a straightforward 52 words to a sprawling
3,200-word maze.
Countries wanting to import cheap generics must jump through
multiple hoops to prove they are truly in need, unable to afford
patented drugs and incapable of producing the medicines
domestically. Meanwhile, there is no guarantee that there will be a
sufficient supply of drugs for them to buy, since the deal also puts up
hurdles for countries wanting to export. "A 'gift' tightly bound in red
tape," declared a coalition of NGOs, including Medecins Sans
Frontieres and Third World Network.
Perhaps that's why US trade representative Robert Zoellick praised
the agreement. So did Harvey Bale, the premier spokesman for Big
Pharma and director general of the International Federation of
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations. Bale, who had lobbied
against the deal, told Reuters that the latest neutering resulted in "a
fairly balanced text" that "adds clarity".
But now something unexpected is happening. The Canadian
government, under intense pressure from Aids activists and the
United Nations, is trying to put the WTO agreement into practice. In
September, the government announced plans to amend its patent law
to allow the manufacture of generic versions of patented drugs
exclusively for export to poor countries.
African Aids groups have hailed the plan as a breakthrough,
especially if it spurs more countries to suspend patent protections to
export generic drugs to countries in need. And the need is huge. Of
the roughly 30 million Africans with HIV, 4.1 million need antiretroviral
drugs, yet only 50,000-75,000 have access to them. The World
Health Organisation has pledged to get 3 million people into
treatment by 2005. That would require a minimum of 6 million pills a
day, a demand that cannot be met by the current generic drug
suppliers alone.
All of a sudden, Harvey Bale is not pleased. The agreement he
praised when it was just a feel-good press release is now, according
to Bale's recent statements, a "dead end" and "window dressing",
resulting in a "negative black eye for Canada".
Bale has pulled out all of Big Pharma's favourite myths: Africa doesn't
need cheap drugs, it needs infrastructure (it needs both); brand name
companies have already slashed their prices to compete with
generics (discounted brand versions are still at least twice as
expensive); weakening patents will hurt corporate profits and destroy
the incentive for new research (Africa accounts for roughly 1% of the
$400bn pharmaceutical industry's total sales).
Now that the pharmaceutical lobby has let its opposition be known, all
eyes are on Washington. Will the United States try to block the
Canadian initiative or water it down - and if so, how?
Canadian officials say they fear that the Bush administration's
weapon will be the North American Free Trade agreement. Nafta
permits governments to suspend drug patents if the drugs are
"predominantly" for domestic purposes, but makes no explicit
allowances for exports to other countries.
For the past two years, US trade negotiators have haggled over the
details of the WTO drug deal, eventually signing it. If the United
States now uses Nafta to kill or weaken the plan just when promises
are turning into medicines, it would be a staggering display of bad
faith, even by Bush standards.
Any government considering joining the Free Trade Area of the
Americas should be hearing deafening alarm bells right now. The
patent protections in the draft FTAA agreement are even tougher
than those in Nafta; if it is adopted, as the Bush administration hopes,
the United States could try to block affordable drug exports anywhere
in the Americas. Put simply, the administration is rigging bilateral and
regional trade deals to undermine any attempt by poor countries to
exercise their rights in the multilateral sphere.
Canada could well win a Nafta challenge, but there is no indication
that Ottawa is up for the fight. Paul Martin, the man set to become
Canada's next prime minister, has stated that Canada's "number one
challenge is keeping that American border open". If it looks as if the
Aids drug initiative would place that goal in jeopardy, the Canadian
government's newfound courage could quickly evaporate.
At a press conference last week, Zoellick left the door open for a
Nafta challenge, calling Canada's plan a "very fine step", but adding:
"We, of course, would expect that Canada would maintain the rules
we agreed on."
Bush's Aids strategy is far less ambiguous. His $3bn a year Aids
pledge has been whittled down to $2bn, and possibly much less. And
on October 3, the Senate approved Bush's choice to head up his
global Aids initiative: Randall Tobias, former CEO of drug giant Eli
Lilly, charter member of the industry group leading the charge against
the Canadian plan.
Tobias's appointment is a bit like trusting the CEO of ExxonMobil to
lead a government effort to promote solar power. The Bush
administration insists that Tobias, who is holding on to his Eli Lilly
stock, will not use the job to do Big Pharma's bidding and will support
the use of generics if they are cheaper.
The first test will be whether Tobias joins his old friend Harvey Bale to
declare war on an initiative that could save millions of lives.
A version of this article appears in the Nation, www.nologo.org
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