E-drug: MSF statement
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Statement by M�decins Sans Fronti�res (MSF) on TRIPS and
affordable medicines
TRIPS Council Session on Access to Medicines, 19 September
2001.
MSF calls upon World Trade Organization (WTO) members to
support developing countries' proposal to ensure that the
multilateral rules on intellectual property do not harm public health.
One third of the world's population lacks access to essential drugs;
in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia, this figure rises to one half.
Developing countries, where three quarters of the world's
population lives, account for less than 10% of the global
pharmaceutical market.
The implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), scheduled to be
completed by all WTO Member States by 2006, may be expected
to have further serious consequences on the availability at
affordable prices of new essential medicines. Developing country
delegates have also drawn attention to the fact that, although they
shoulder the heavier costs of high levels of intellectual property
protection, they do not benefit from the pharmaceutical research
and development that the new international patent rules aim to
encourage.
MSF welcomes the discussions at the TRIPS Council on access to
medicines. "Most members of the WTO seem genuinely prepared to
correct the present imbalance between the sanctity of patents and
the health of people." said Ellen 't Hoen of MSF. "Access to
essential medicines should not be a luxury reserved for the wealthy
but should be reinforced as a critical component of the human right
to health". Some argue that patents are not the problem, but the
experience of our doctors in the field demonstrates otherwise.
WTO members have pointed out the existing flexibilities of the
TRIPS agreement. This week's discussions in the TRIPS Council and
the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, will
clarify whether these flexibilities stretch far enough. MSF supports
developing countries' proposal for a Ministerial Declaration at Doha
which would ensure that nothing in the TRIPS Agreement shall
prevent Members from taking measures to protect public health.
MSF is not against patents and patent legislation. True innovation
deserves to be protected. MSF advocates a balanced intellectual
property system that takes into account the specific needs and
priorities of developing countries and follows the principles outlined
in the TRIPS: patents should benefit the innovator and those who
need access to the innovation. Patents are not an end in themselves
but public policy tools to achieve benefits for society as a whole.
In Doha, it will become clear whether there is a political will to
strike this balance with the present rules in place.
MSF is an independent humanitarian medical relief organisation
founded in 1971. MSF works on 400 projects in 85 countries. In
1999, MSF launched the Campaign for Access to Essential
Medicines in response to the ever-growing gap in access to
medicines between the developing and developed world.
For further information, please contact Ellen 't Hoen, +33 (0)1 40
21 28 36.
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