E-DRUG: Global Campaign Against Indian Patent Amendment
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[This TRIPS+ patent law in India might have serious repercussions for developing countries' ability to source affordable essential drugs in the future! WB]
Dear E-druggers,
Please circulate widely in your own list servers and join the Campaign
to help us stop the Indian Government from going ahead with the Present
draconian form of Patents Amendment which seriously threatens the
accessibility and affordability of life saving medicines.
Thanks
Abraham Thomas
People's Health Movement Secretariat(global)
CHC-Bangalore
#367 "Srinivasa Nilaya"
Jakkasandra 1st Main,
I Block Koramangala
Bangalore-560034, India
Tel: +91 80 51280009 (direct) Fax: +91 80 25525372
Website: www.phmovement.org <http://www.phmovement.org/>
abrahamthomas@postmark.net
PRESS RELEASE (PEOPLE'S HEALTH MOVEMENT's CALL)
For Release: 8th February 2005
Global Campaign Against Indian Patent Amendment (www.gcaipa.org
<http://www.gcaipa.org>)
26 February, Global Day of Action against "TRIPS +", the Indian Patent
Ordinance
"We call February 26, 2005, the Global Day of Action."
"We call it the Anti-Patents day for drugs"
"We call the day we refuse to be taken for granted by the Price-Setters,
Institutions and Governments."
"We call February 26, 2005, Our day to Say "We fight for our right to
health." Our life should not be held at premium against our ability to pay"
"No to patented, expensive drugs, Yes to generic, affordable drugs. Yes
to Life!"
"We say "NO" to patent amendments in India. We say "YES" to our sense of
justice and humanity - roll back the patent amendments."
February 26, 2005 has been named a day of international protest against
the actions of the Government of India. People around the world are
calling to question the humaneness of a patent modification that permits
the private sector to profit from public health. The Indian Patent
Ordinance prescribes "TRIPS-PLUS" standards, which takes the country
beyond the commitments agreed to under the TRIPS agreement. Instead
there is a roll back of the most progressive Patents Act in developing
countries. The Patent act has fostered the pharmaceutical industry in
India, provided affordable medication to millions within India and the
rest of the developing world. As of December 26, 2005, by Presidential
Ordinance, the patent Act has been modified; we now face Product Patent
protection for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals in India.
While Article 7 & 8 of TRIPS allows for contrary national regulation in
the interest of public health, the government of India has not heard or
interpreted the TRIPS regulation in this perspective. The rest of the
world is not silent and will speak out on February 26, 2005. Consider an
extreme example, more than 5 million people in India are living with HIV
and 0.5 million of these need immediate anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment.
Only 0.44 million people living with HIV in all developing countries
currently have access to ARV treatment. This access has been greatly
facilitated by the Indian generic pharmaceutical companies bringing down
prices of medicines by drastically. Presently, Indian generic
manufacturers export generic medicines to over 200 countries.
The same is the case with other ailments like cancer, cardiovascular
diseases etc. For instance, the anti-cancer drug Gleevec costs $2500 per
month while generic version of the same is available at $250 per month
in India. An Exclusive Marketing Right (EMR) that has been granted to
Novartis A.G., the manufacturer of Gleevec, is already threatening
availability of the generic drugs.
The Ordinance provides patent protection to agro-chemicals and
fertilisers enabling the companies to charge monopoly prices. High costs
of pesticides will result in costlier foodgrains and will negatively hit
consumers, especially the poor. The Ordinance also brings software under
the purview of patent protection furthering the digital divide.
Public interest groups and trade unions are holding a mass protest on 26
February 2005 against the Patent (Amendment) Ordinance.
Global Coalition against the Indian Patent Amendment believes that India
has a duty to place public health concerns and access to medicines for
people over the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies. Public
interest groups in India are gravely concerned that the Ordinance will
trade away India's right to protect public health including availability
of low-cost, quality generic medicines. In other words, accepting the
Ordinance will have the effect of losing even the minimum space
available within the TRIPS agreement to protect health.
We call upon like-minded groups and individuals all over the world to
observe a Global Day of Action (GDA) on 26 February 2005 to demand
access to generic drugs in India and elsewhere. In the past, such
actions resulted in major victories and forced pharmaceutical companies
to drop suits against the South African government (March 2001) and also
compelled the US to change its decision to approach the WTO Dispute
Settlement Body against Brazil (June 2001). We hope this time too,
people's unity will win over corporate power and force the government
of India to replace the Ordinance with the new Bill and to tackle the
public health concerns in India and elsewhere.
Public interest groups and individuals all over the world are requested
to hold protests in the form of rallies, marches and vigils against the
Patents Ordinance. Groups can also formally convey their protest to the
Indian embassies and consulates. A website is being created to
coordinate the activities and facilitate sharing of information on GDA
(www.gcaipa.org <http://www.gcaipa.org/>\). The website www.gcaipa.org
<http://www.gcaipa.org/> would be accessible to the public from 0900 hrs
GMT on 09.02.2005
In Solidarity
People's Health Movement and Global Coalition against the Indian Patent
Amendment (GCAIPA)
GCAIPA is an informal network of groups and individuals that are working
to ensure access to treatment, food, information, etc. There are many
more organisations and individuals behind this campaign and lot more are
joining. So the contact list presented below is just to facilitate
communication in various regions.
Contact Persons :
Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign (AMTC)
C/o Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit
2nd Floor, 7/10, Botawalla Building, Horniman Circle, Fort, Mumbai 400
023, India
Telephone: + 91-22-22630889
Fax: + 91-22-22702563
Email: amtc_india@yahoo.co.in <mailto:amtac_india@yahoo.co.in>
Contact person: K M Gopakumar
Mobile: +91 9819140881
National Working Group on Patent Laws
A-388, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi-110 044, India
Telephone: +91-11-26947403
Fax: +91 -11-26813311
Email: wgkeayla@del6.vsnl.net.in <mailto:wgkeayla@del6.vsnl.net.in>
Contact person: B K Keayla
Mobile: +91 9811143191
People's Health Movement Secretariat (Global)
C/o Community Health Cell, # 367, "Srinivasa Nilaya", Jakkasandra I Main,
I Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 034, India
Telephone: + 91-80-25531518 Fax: + 91-80-25525372
Email: secretariat@phmovement.org <mailto:secretariat@phmovement.org>
Contact person: Prasanna Saligram
Mobile: + 91 9845518382
Association For India's Development and Insaaf International,
Maryland, USA
Vineeta Gupta
guptahar@yahoo.com
<mailto:guptahr@yahoo.com>