E-DRUG: SADC Health Ministers meet on TRIPS and big-5 offer
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[below the press release and a news article on the extraordinary meeting
of Ministers of Health of the SADC region, Pretoria 17 June 2000. WB]
PRESS RELEASE
1. A meeting of SADC Health Ministers took place at the Manhattan Hotel,
Pretoria, on 17 June 2000.
2. This was a special meeting in response to the announcement made by five
pharmaceutical companies that they woul start a dialogue with United
Nations organisations to explore ways to accelerate and improve the
provision of HIV/AIDS related care and treatment in developing countries.
The meeting aimed at adressing two major challenges:
3. Discussions on TRIPS, with particular emphasis on both possibilities and
limitations it presents in meeting the objective of improved ACCESS.
Particular emphasis was placed on discussing such concepts as:
a) Parallel importation of drugs
b) Compulsory licensing of drugs
c) the role of the "Bolar" provision (which facilitates the immediate
availability of generic drugs once a patent has expired) being provided for
in the medicines regulation process.
3.1. The meeting conculded that all three instruments would contribute to
the objective of improving access. Consequently, the meeting stressed the
need for pursuing these strategies.
3.2. Ministers reaffirmed the need for them to meet with the SADC Industry
and Trade Ministers to ensure that public health objectives are
appropriately considered in the next round of talks that will follow
Seattle.
3.3. Ministers advised that the WHO should be more actively involved in the
WTO negotiations; should promote totally independent research into
pharmaceuticals driven by the public sector, to ensure public access to the
resultant pharmaceuticals; and should draft a model law that can be used to
safeguard compulsory licensing, parallel importation, local manufacture,
and freedom to outsource for drugs necessary in the public sector.
4. The second objective of the meeting was to review the steps taken so far
or that we still to be taken on the offer from the 5 pharmaceutical
companies.
4.1. Ministers noted with strong concern that the manner in which the
proposed offer was announced could lead to alienation of governments from
their people, as the public was given the impression that the prices of
anti-retroviral drugs have been drastically reduced and immediately
available. Ministers wish to stress that as of now, no concrete offer or
mechanism to effect such an offer is in place.
4.2. Ministers reaffirmed their preparedness to enter in bonafide
discussions with these companies guided by the fundamental need to address
the health needs of the people of the peoples in the region. As a critical
test, however, any agreement entered into must be sustainable.
4.3. Ministers reiterated the need to engage in the discussions with the
aim of addressing all elements, such as infrastructure and diagnostic
services, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building that would ensure
effective delivery of medicines to the majority in developing countries.
4.4. Ministers further stressed the need for Ministers of developing
countries to take charge of the development of the negotiation process.
4.5. South Africa, as the coordinator of the SADC Health Sector, was duly
mandated to represent the region in the initial rounds of discussion and
liaise closely with the Ministers of Health of Member States of SADC.
END
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[press coverage]
Health ministers vow to provide cheap AIDS drugs
Sunday Times, June 18, 2000
by LAURICE TAITZ
Health ministers from Southern African countries have set themselves on
a collision course with pharmaceutical manufacturers by announcing that
they will circumvent companies' drug pricing policies and buy essential
HIV/AIDS drugs at the cheapest prices.
The Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who is also the
co-ordinator of the Southern African Development Council Health Sector,
said at a meeting held in Pretoria yesterday that planned strategies to
improve access included:
Parallel importation (buying drugs at the cheapest prices available on
the world market);
Compulsory licensing (whereby governments license local manufacturers to
produce patented drugs); and
Facilitating the immediate availability of generic drugs once a patent
on a medicine has expired.
The decision will strain relations with pharmaceutical manufacturers,
who have challenged the right to use these controversial practices. A South
African law that would allow such strategies is being held up in court
by the S A Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Association. But
Tshabalala-Msimang said this would not prove a deterrent as a clause
in the law on patents would be used.
The Pretoria meeting between health ministers from the SADC was
convened in response to the announcement by five international
pharmaceutical companies last month of a dialogue they had begun with
the United Nations to explore ways to speed up and improve provision of
HIV/AIDS-related care and treatment in developing countries.
However, the ministers said they were prepared to enter into discussions
with the five companies "guided by the fundamental need to address the
health needs of peoples in the region".
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