E-DRUG: Doha responses from Act-Up, EU, PhRMA
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[Responses from Act-up, EU and PhRMA (USA industry ass) on the outcome in
Doha on patents and health issues. Copied with thanks from IP-Health. NN]
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[Act-Up]
Press document � November 15, 2001
WTO Declaration on TRIPS and Health :
People With Aids 1, Drug Industry 0
(Paris, France) - It was more than high time that the tide turned - public
health stakes, and therefore the interests of people with aids, have at last
superseded transnational companies� interests at the World Trade
Oraganisation.
From now on, the dogma of corporate monopoly on life-saving drugs is no
longer law.
Governments are now free to make or import generic versions of the patented
drugs they need. By declaring that �Each Member has the right grant
compulsory licenses and the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such
licenses are granted, the 142 Member States of the WTO have established the
primacy of health over corporate monopolies, and this independently of
national emergencies.
In Doha, developing countries have showed unprecedented determination. Led
by the Africa Group, a coalition of more than 80 developing countries have
forced rich countries to make key clarification concessions concerning what
is possible under the WTO Agreement on intellectual property, and this in
spite of intense pressure and maneuvers by the United States, the European
Commission, Japan and Switzerland to divide and conquer.
In the future, governments who will attempt to apply bilateral trade
sanctions or covert pressure against poor countries seeking to promote
access to medicines will expose themselves to the condemnation of WTO
Members States and the rest of the international community.
Yet, the victory is not quite complete : all key public-health provisions in
the TRIPS Agreement are not clarified in the Doha declaration. Especially,
the crucial recognition that generic versions of patented drugs can be
exported to poor countries that do not have sufficient industrial capacity,
has been refused by the United States and the European Commission.
The majority of people with aids and more generally, the majority of people
with illnesses, live in countries where there is no sufficient
drug-production capacity. It is thus necessary that the emerging developing
countries be allowed to provide those least-developed countries the
medicines they need. Now, even though the Trade Ministerial Declaration
makes a point of recognizing the validity of the issue, the rich countries
have nonetheless succeeded in derailing the indispensable clarification of
whether such South-South access to medicines arrangements are possible under
the TRIPS or not. In this regard, the Doha Declaration has failed to lift a
crucial barrier to drug access.
Therefore, civil society�s fight against Western drug giants and Western
governments needs to continue in order to address issues left outstanding in
Doha � the stakes of drug access are counted in millions of lives a year.
ACT UP-Paris demands that the WTO clarify, at the next meeting of its
Council of TRIPS, the fact that nothing in the Agreement prevents trade of
affordable, generic medicines.
Contact presse : Ga�lle Krikorian, +33 609 177 055 � galk@noos.fr
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Ga�lle Krikorian
North/South Commission
Act Up-Paris
BP 287 - 75525 Paris cedex 11
Tel: 33 1 49 29 44 75
Port: 33 6 09 17 70 55
Fax: 33 1 48 06 16 74
E.mail: galk@noos.fr
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[EU]
http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/europa/2001newround/pl4.php
WTO MINISTERIAL, DOHA:
ASSESSMENT OF RESULTS FOR EU
Memo, Doha, 14 November 2001
<snip>
10. Trips and Public Health
The adoption of the Ministerial declaration on TRIPs and Public Health
is an indication that the WTO is supportive of public health matters and
that intellectual property is part of the solution to the tension
between public health objectives and the interests of private companies.
This text is a major achievement and provides a delicate balance between
the interests of the proponents and those who's major preoccupation was
to safeguard the TRIPs Agreement.
This declaration is a substantive declaration which clarifies the
relationship between TRIPs and public health. In addition, it reflects
the consensus of the clarification on the flexibility inherent in
several key provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, while members maintain
their commitments in the TRIPS Agreement.
The substance of this declaration is in line with the positions adopted
by the EU.
11. TRIPS
The EU's goal in relation to TRIPS has been achieved. A clear provision
that negotiations on multilateral register will have to be completed by
the next WTO ministerial, so within the next year or two.
A mandate for negotiations on extension of GI coverage has been agreed
for the benefit of products around the world.
The clear provision that TRIPS/CBD and protection of traditional
knowledge will be examined and that appropriate action be taken on the
basis of implementation shows the commitment of the EU to take into
account developing countries interests.
<snip>
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[PhRMA]
PhRMA PRESS RELEASE:
http://www.phrma.org/press/newsreleases//2001-11-14.310.phtml
November 14, 2001
WTO Doha Declaration Reaffirms Value Of Intellectual Property Protection
America's pharmaceutical industry recognizes the importance of the
political statement reached in Doha that explicitly maintains TRIPS
Agreement rights and obligations reaffirming that intellectual property
protection promotes public health by encouraging the discovery and
development of vaccines and medicines vital to patients worldwide. The
statement also emphasizes the existing flexibility TRIPS provides to
enable countries to address national health emergencies. In addition, it
recognizes the multiple challenges faced by the WTO's least developed
member countries coping with the HIV/AIDS pandemic by providing these
countries an additional ten years until January 1, 2016, to comply with
their obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.
The WTO Declaration explicitly states that "intellectual property
protection is important for the development of new medicines" and member
countries made an unequivocal point of "reiterating our commitment to
the TRIPS Agreement." Furthermore, the WTO members agreed to address the
HIV/AIDS pandemic while "maintaining our commitments in the TRIPS
Agreement."
"The Declaration recognizes that TRIPS and patents are part of the
solution to better public health, not a barrier to access," explained
Alan F. Holmer, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America. "Without altering the existing rights and
obligations under TRIPS, the declaration provides assurances that
countries may take all measures consistent with the Agreement to protect
the health of their citizens."
The pharmaceutical industry continues its unwavering commitment to help
improve access to medicines in the poorest countries through many
partnerships with UN agencies, governments, other private-sector
companies, and non-governmental organizations. Partnership initiatives
amounted to almost $2 billion from 1998-2001. Pharmaceutical companies
provide important medicines for free or at low cost for patients in need
throughout the developing world.
"With this reaffirmation of the TRIPS Agreement, we hope member
countries will now focus on and address the real barriers to access to
medicines in developing countries: poverty, too few trained doctors and
adequately equipped facilities, high tariffs on medicines in many
developing countries, the need for more developed country support,
political will in developing and developed countries alike," Holmer
continued. "Only progress on these issues will ultimately ensure
long-term, sustainable progress toward better health care in the least
developed and developing countries."
As global leaders in the discovery and development of vaccines and new
medicines, PhRMA member companies are committed to continued and
intensified R&D focused on infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, the
improvement of public health, and access to our medicines for all
patients who need them. For example, the pharmaceutical industry today
has 98 medicines in development for HIV/AIDS, including 14 vaccines.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
represents the country's leading research-based pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that
allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives.
Investing more than $30 billion in 2001 in discovering and developing
new medicines, PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new
cures.
[end]
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