E-drug: MSF report Drug Patents Under The Spotlight
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Please find below the MSF press release for the launch of the report
"Drugs patents under the spotlight". You can find the full report "Drugs
Patents Under The Spotlight" at the following address:
www.accessmed-msf.org/documents/patents_2003.pdf and a
"highlights" document summarising the key points of the report at
www.accessmed-msf.org/documents/patents_2003highlights.pdf
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Puts Drug Patents Under The
Spotlight
Geneva, 22 May 2003. A few days before the 192 countries at the
World Health Assembly (WHA) discuss "intellectual property rights,
innovation and public health" (provisional agenda item 14.9), MSF is
releasing a report setting straight common misconceptions about
patents and highlighting country efforts to overcome patent obstacles
to accessing life-saving medicines.
"Patents are social policy tools," explains Ellen 't Hoen, MSF
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. "When patents are
issued for a method of swinging sideways on a swing, no-one's life is
in the balance. But when it comes to pharmaceuticals, intellectual
property must be weighed against the needs of people whose lives
depend on medicines."
Most developing countries' patent laws are still modelled on
developed country systems. But in developed countries, patents are
regularly challenged in court and in some cases deemed invalid. In
developing countries, the practice of contesting patents has not been
established. As a result invalid patents remain in place.
"Developing countries should not hesitate to check and challenge the
validity of patents," says Ellen 't Hoen. "This is already beginning to
happen in some countries, such as Kenya and Thailand."
An example cited in the report is the case of Bristol-Myers Squibb's
(BMS) ARV ddI. In one of the few cases of a patent being contested in
a developing country, the Thai Central Intellectual Property and
International Trade Court ruled to throw out the patent on a particular
dosage of the drug. The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public
Health was cited in the court's brief.
The report also makes public all the information MSF has gathered on
18 drugs in 29 countries so that Ministries of Health and non-profit
purchasers can benefit from the information, and not be bullied into
buying more expensive drugs when it's not necessary.
MSF appeals to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to continue this work by
setting up a user-friendly, public database providing comprehensive
and transparent data on pharmaceutical patents of key medicines.
This information should be accompanied by clear advice to countries
on how to overcome patent barriers to medicines, and with technical
assistance in doing so.
The full text of this report can be found on www.accessmed-msf.org
For further information, please call
Ellen 't Hoen, coordinator of policy, advocacy and research for the
MSF Access Campaign, tel. +33 6 223 758 71,
or Ingrid Cox, information officer for the MSF Access Campaign,
tel. +41 22 849 8401.
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