E-drug: Compulsory licenses and access to essential medicines
---------------------------------------------
Compulsory licenses and access to essential medicines
NGO-sponsored meeting - Geneva, 26 March 1999
Press Release
For Additional Information, contact
Nathan Ford, MSF London, at: 44.171.713.5600
Jamie Love, CPT, Washington, DC 202.387.8030
Bas van der Heide, HAI, Amsterdam, 31.20.683.3684
Geneva, March 1999. The role of compulsory licensing[1] of patents
in broadening access to essential medicines will be examined in a
meeting sponsored by Medecins Sans Frontieres, Health Action
International and the Consumer Project on Technology. 'We are very
concerned about the growing number of lives at risk because of
unequal access to medicines' says Dr Bernard Pecoul of Medecins
Sans Frontieres. The meeting will include discussion of the HIV/AIDS
epidemic in Africa and Thailand, and other instances where
compulsory licensing of medical patents may be appropriate for public
health reasons.
Compulsory licensing is a legal mechanism used for both patents and
copyrights in a wide range of fields such as computers, nuclear
energy, music recordings and biotechnology. However, the use of
compulsory licensing for HIV/AIDS drugs or other essential medicines
is controversial: pharmaceutical companies and some governments in
the industrialized countries have opposed the use of compulsory
licensing for essential medicines. This is the subject of current
international trade disputes involving the US, Thailand, South Africa
and other countries.
Public health and consumer groups, governments of industrialized and
developing countries, pharmaceutical companies, and international
organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the World
Health Organization will take part in discussions on compulsory
licensing of patents to essential medical technologies at the
NGO-sponsored meeting. 'The issue of compulsory licensing is too
important to leave to patent officers and trade officials. The public
health community has to get involved', explains Bas van der Heide of
Health Action International.
Public health groups expect that some of these disputes will be put to
the World Trade Organization which can review the acceptability of
compulsory licensing under the international agreement on Trade
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property.
'This meeting is important because of the alarming rise of
communicable diseases in recent years' says James Love of the
Consumer Project on Technology. 'There is a vast disparity in world
income and access to essential medicines. New global trade
agreements which set international norms on the protection of
intellectual property should address the problems of access for the
poor.'
In May of this year the World Health Assembly will meet in Geneva
and discuss a resolution which addresses WHO's role in monitoring
health implications of trade agreements and cooperation with the
World Trade Organization on matters concerning trade and public
health.
------------
[1] Compulsory licensing is defined by WHO as "when [a] judicial or
administrative authority is allowed by law to grant a license,
without permission from the holder, on various grounds of general
interest."
-------------
The meeting will take place in the Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva
10, Switzerland on March 26, 1999, 9.00-17.00. Members of the
press are invited to attend the meeting. Registration is obligatory for
security reasons.
To register for the meeting contact Marie Paule Pierotti at MSF:
Tel 41-22-849-8400
MSF-International-GVA@geneva.msf.org
Further information can be obtained from
Bas Van der Heide
Health Action International
Tel +31.20.683.3684 Fax +31.20.685.5002
bas@hai.antenna.nl
Dr. Bernard Pecoul
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Tel +33(0)1.60.62.26.33, Fax +33(0)1 40.21.29.62
bpecoul@msf.org
James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
Tel 202.387.8030, Fax 202.234.5176
love@cptech.org
A web page for the meeting is on the Internet at:
http://www.cptech.org/march99-cl
Background information about compulsory licensing of is on the web
at: http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/cl
Medecins Sans Frontieres is the world's largest independent medical
relief organization, providing care to victims of war, disasters and
epidemics in 80 countries world-wide. (http://www.msf.org)
Health Action International is an informal network of more than 200
consumer, health, development action and other public interest groups
involved in health and pharmaceutical issues world-wide.
(http://www.haiweb.org)
Consumer Project on Technology is a US based non-profit research
and advocacy organisation created by consumer advocate Ralph
Nader. Its activities focus on information technologies, intellectual
property and research and development. (http://www.cptech.org)
--
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
http://www.cptech.org | love@cptech.org
Voice 202.387.8030, Fax 202.234.5176
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.