# \[e-drug\] FTAs and Intellectual Property doom Access to Medicines **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [August 16, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-ftas-and-intellectual-property-doom-access-to-medicines/26087 "2006-08-16T13:55:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mohga\_Kamal-Yanni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mohga\_Kamal-Yanni](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Mohga_Kamal-Yanni)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-ftas-and-intellectual-property-doom-access-to-medicines/26087/1 "2006-08-16T13:55:38Z")
E-DRUG: FTAs and Intellectual Property doom Access to Medicines ------------------------------------------------------- NGO POLICY BRIEF Free Trade Agreements and Intellectual Property doom Access to Medicines   Health GAP, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam International, Third World Network, TNP+, EATG, GAT, SGAC, Solidarite Sida, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal                 Network, Korean HIV/AIDS Wide Action, MTAG+                               16 August 2006 Patent and data protection rules in free trade agreements have a profound impact on the ability of developing countries to access life saving medicines of assured quality. When drug sales were tightly controlled by large pharmaceutical companies, patented, highly active antiretroviral therapy cost $10,000 a year. Bypassing and annulling patent rules allowed generic producers to manufacture and sell the same medicines in preferred fixed-dose combinations for as little as $140 year. Wealthy countries imposed a global baseline of intellectual property protections with the 1994 WTO TRIPS Agreement. Developing countries fought back against patent hegemony and in 2001 won the historical Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which reaffirmed that TRIPS supports governments’ right to protect public health and promote access to medicines to all. It took two years (until August 30, 2003) for the WTO to adopt a flawed Decision that partially addresses the problem of permitting export of low-cost generics to developing countries that do not have the capacity to produce these medicines domestically. However, the U.S. government continues to pursue ever-higher intellectual property protections in regional and bilateral free trade agreements, thereby restricting developing countries' ability to purchase affordable versions of newer medicines. In the past five years the U.S. has concluded negotiations with Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Singapore. It is currently negotiating bilateral free trade agreements with Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Ecuador and Panama, and attempted to pursue regional negotiations in Southern Africa and the entire Western Hemisphere (the FTAA). In each negotiation, the U.S. tries to impose U.S.-style intellectual property protections on other nations, which exceed TRIPS standards, and in some instances even exceed U.S. law. These TRIPS-plus intellectual property protections dramatically undermine flexibilities guaranteed in the Doha Declaration and the August 30th Decision. They include provisions to: · expand the scope of pharmaceutical patents to include new indications, new formulations, and other minor changes; · limit grounds for issuing compulsory licenses to emergencies, government non-commercial use, and competition cases only; · bar parallel trade of on-patent drugs sold more cheaply elsewhere where prohibited by contract; · extend patent monopolies for administrative delays by patent offices and drug regulatory authorities; · enhance protections for clinical trial data by providing at least five years of data exclusivity and by linking drug registration rights to patent status, thereby preventing registration and sale of generics; · enforce patent violations and grant drug companies investor-based rights to sue, including for improvidently granted compulsory licenses. In sum, the U.S.A's negotiation objectives completely eviscerate the Doha flexibilities, dramatically increase IP protection, and threaten to reduce trade in affordable generic medicines. 1. Key recommendations: · A moratorium on intellectual property/patent/data protections in bilateral and regional trade agreements; · Adoption of a more streamlined procedure for producing generic medicines-for-export; · Drug companies waive their patent rights on HIV and AIDS medicines in highly affected regions and permit access to their registration data so that inexpensive generic drugs of assured quality can be quickly approved for sale. · Enjoin drug companies to adopt systematic tiered pricing that enables low-priced drugs in middle income countries. Contacts: Brook Baker, Health GAP +1-617-259-0760         Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Oxfam International +44-777-625-5884 Mohga Dr. Mohga M Kamal-Yanni Senior health & HIV policy advisor Oxfam GB Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK Tel: + 44 (0) 865 472290 Mobile + 44 (0) 7776255884 mkamalyanni@Oxfam.org.uk