E-drug: Mock Bout, Real Battle: U.S. Takes Knockout Blow on Patent
Protection Policy
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http://www.ipsnews.co.th/anmviewer.asp?a=1562&z=103
Jul 13
By Agnes Aristiarini
When the U.S. boxer finally lands on the ground, all the spectators
count together: One, two, three ... ten.
After the countdown, the young men and the Thai-boxer supporters
(there are no supporters of the U.S. combatant) pose for a picture,
against a banner with the message Fight for Generics. They smile for
the assembled cameramen and photographers. The mock fight between the
Thai and U.S. boxers is over.
The real battle, however, is still going on. Oxfam International,
who organised the muay Thai (Thaiboxing) event, used it to highlight
their concern about U.S. moves to toughen existing intellectual
property protection for drugs produced by giant pharmaceutical
companies. The group believes the U.S. policy will hamper Thailand's
successful HIV/AIDS treatment programme and undermine future access
to affordable medicines.
The U.S. is pressuring Thailand to sign away citizens' rights to
life-saving medicines in the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA)
that is currently under negotiation, said Dr Mohga Kamal Smith,
Oxfam's health policy advisor.
In Thailand, there are 29,000 new infections of HIV/AIDS each year,
of which about 4,200 are children. Access to affordable medicines is
a critical component of the governments strategy to scale up the
current treatment programme and prevent the spread of the epidemic,
according to Oxfam.
To achieve this, Thailand and other developing countries must be
allowed access to cheap generic versions of patented drugs in the
future. Since there are some patients who need other combinations --
because this medicine might not suit them or they may have developed
resistance to it, developing countries also urgently need access to
generic versions of other patented medicines as an alternative.
Efavirenz, for example, is a much needed anti-retroviral drug made by
Merck. But it is still too expensive because it is under patent. The
same is true of GlaxoSmithKlines ganciclovir, which is still too
expensive to be included in the government's programme.
The patent rules in the proposed U.S.-Thai free trade agreement, if
based on recent U.S. free trade agreements with other developing
countries, will close down the option of accessing such inexpensive
generic medicine in the future, Oxfam says.
The group is urging the U.S. government to refrain from pressuring
Thailand to implement such measures and instead give its maximum
support to the expansion of the Thai and developing countries AIDS
programmes.
Asked whether Oxfam believed they could reach their goals by staging
protest events such as the mock boxing bout, Smith said that a few
years ago, people were saying there was no way to provide treatment
in Africa. With such attitudes, nobody is going to reach anywhere,
Oxfam's Smith said.
To make a difference, Smith believes that activists, civil society,
NGOs, and ordinary people around the world must act consistently, and
at every opportunity, and things will change, as is already
happening. She pointed out that the price of drugs is going down,
generic productions are increasing and more people are gaining access
to treatment.
It has still not reached the number we want, the low price we want,
but it is still a big achievement compared with several years ago,
she said.
Mohga
Dr. Mohga Kamal Smith
Health policy advisor
Tel + 44 (0) 1865 312290
Mobile +44 (0) 777 62 55 884
mksmith@Oxfam.org.uk
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