E-drug: CPTech Statement on WTO deal on exports of medicines
--------------------------------------------------------
CPTech Statement on WTO deal on exports of medicines
August 30, 2003
James Love, CPTech +1.703.522.4380, +1.202.361.3040
"Today's decision on the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha
Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health puts the WTO into unchartered
waters. The WTO secretariat, the TRIPS Council and the Chair of the
TRIPS council will now begin to routinely review the issuance of
individual licenses, and the WTO will now as a matter of expected
practice, oversee the use of compulsory licensing in the most intimate
terms, looking at the terms of individual licenses, evaluating the basis
for deciding manufacturing capacity is insufficient, or reviewing or
second guessing any of the new terms and obligations that the new
implementation language introduces into the regulation of compulsory
licensing of patents on medicines. The persons who have negotiated this
agreement have given the world a new model for explicitly endorsing
protectionism. The United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan and
other developed economies will be allowed to bar imports from developing
country generic suppliers -- under completely irrational protectionist
measures that are defended by the WTO Secretariat and its most powerful
members as a humanitarian gesture.
"The European Commission's DG-Trade has engineered this agreement as an
attack on a position endorsed by its own parliament that was a far more
elegant and rational solution to the export issue. The EU Parliament
Amendment 196 was 52 words. The new WTO deal is more than 3,200 words.
The extra 3,150 words were not needed and will create a morass of
uncertainty and gamesmanship. The new deal will predictably be used to
prejudice other more useful export strategies under Articles 30 or 31.k
of the TRIPS agreement.
"The new agreement has very modest benefits, and it has very substantial
costs, risks and uncertainties.
"On the positive side, the new agreement completely rejects the efforts
of the US, Japan, the European Union and the WTO Secretariat to limit
the scope of diseases for compulsory licensing, and it also does not
require high standards such as epidemics or emergencies. Routine public
health problems can be addressed in the new agreement. The developing
countries did hold the line on this, under enormous pressure from major
pharmaceutical companies and the trade delegates who lobby on behalf of
the biggest pharmaceutical companies.
"The next step for public health activists will be to be more pro-active
on trade and public health, both locally and globally. Locally it is
now time for countries to give effect to paragraph 4 of the Doha
Declaration, and actually issue compulsory licenses to promote access to
medicine for all. If it can be said at the WTO, it can be done back
home. Globally, it is now time for NGOs to take greater control of the
global debate over how best to fund R&D. On the hand, we have scenarios
of ever increasing shares of GDP being spent to support a largely
non-innovative big pharma system of extremely costly marketing efforts,
and a growing police state designed to stop the trade in inexpensive
medicines. On the other hand, there are new ideas on how trade
agreements should more efficiently address global support for R&D, and
new ideas on how to best fund innovation for new medical products.
We think the latter agenda is better for everyone."
James Love (home +1.703.522.4380, cell +1.202.361.3040, work
+1.202.387.8030, james.love@cptech.org). Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org/ip/health
http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/rndtf/
-----------------------
EU Parliament Amendment 196
Manufacturing shall be allowed if the medicinal product is intended for
export to a third country that has issued a compulsory licence for that
product, or where a patent is not in force and if there is a request to
that effect of the competent public health authorities of that third
country.
WTO Press release
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres03_e/pr350_e.htm
Decision on implementation of paragraph 6
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/implem_para6_e.htm
General Council Chairperson's statement
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news03_e/trips_stat_28aug03_e.htm
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:james.love@cptech.org
tel. +1.202.387.8030, mobile +1.202.361.3040
Access Essential Drugs Monitor #32 at http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/mon32.shtml
--
To send a message to E-Drug, write to: e-drug@healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe e-drug OR unsubscribe e-drug
To contact a person, send a message to: e-drug-help@healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug