E-drug: European Voice Article, Commission to backtrack on cheap drugs for poor countries
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The parliamentary report on compulsory license for export (implementation
in the EU of the WTO August 30 2003 decision) was planned to be voted on
during last week's plenary meeting of the European Parliament. The vote has
been postponed as it seems that they are hoping to reach an agreement with
Council on this first version before the vote (which would allow to close
the process. If there is no agreement with Council, the whole process
starts again)
Seco Gerard, MSF
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Volume 11 Number 33
22 September 2005
Commission to backtrack on cheap drugs for poor countries
By David Cronin
The European Commission is likely to alter a proposal on providing
affordable medicines to countries with public health crises following MEPs'
complaints that the scheme is too narrow in scope.
Next week (29 September), the European Parliament is to endorse a report
critical of the Commission's plan for waiving patents on drugs needed to
treat people with AIDS and other major diseases.
Drafted by Belgian Liberal Johan Van Hecke, the report argues that it is
wrong that the scheme would only apply to drugs destined for the 148
countries in the World Trade Organization (WTO). "It makes no sense from a
public health perspective to limit the application of the system to WTO
members," said Van Hecke. "Whether a country is a WTO member or not does
not constitute a valid criterion for allowing or not exports of low-priced
drugs to address public health needs."
Van Hecke's remarks echo those contained in a study requested by the
Parliament from Carlos Carrera, an Argentine lawyer and economist. His
paper, which was published earlier this year, contended that discrimination
between countries may contravene international human rights law and leave
Russia, a non-WTO country, without the means to address its burgeoning AIDS
crisis.
A Commission official handling the dossier said that his institution would
be "in favour" of extending the scheme to countries outside the WTO and
will probably respond positively to the amendment that Van Hecke suggested.
Originally put forward by Pascal Lamy, the former trade commissioner, the
proposal is aimed at implementing a 2003 WTO decision. Reached shortly
before the failed ministerial conference in Cancœn, Mexico, that decision
set out the circumstances under which countries that struggle to make
enough medicines for their citizens could import copied or 'generic'
versions of drugs under patent.
The Van Hecke report also complains about a provision in the Commission's
proposal requiring authorities seeking to import cheap drugs to ask for
authorisation from the patent-holder for doing so and then prove that
attempts were unsuccessful "within a reasonable period of time". Van
Hecke believes that wording is too vague and could leave import licenses
open to protracted negotiations and legal challenges. He recommended that a
maximum limit of 30 days should be set for such discussions, except in
cases of national emergency.
But the Commission source said that the wording in the proposal reflected
the "standard language" of WTO decisions.
A representative of the pharmaceutical industry said that it would not be
opposed to extending the scheme to non-WTO members.
The generics industry has warned, however, that the scheme proposed by the
Commission could prove too unwieldy for it to provide cheap drugs to poor
countries.
Copyright 2005 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved.