PHA-Exchange> Generic durg - WTO break throug, US drug makers bully

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WTO - AUSTRALIA: WTO MINISTERS REACH BREAK THROUGH DRUGS DEAL AT SYDNEY
TALKS

Agence France-Presse - November 15, 2002
Neil Sands
http://ww2.aegis.org/news/afp/2002/AF021145.html

SYDNEY, Nov 15 (AFP) - Leading trade ministers agreed on a plan Thursday
give the world's poorest nations access to affordable  medicines, a
breakthrough in the effort to tackle global health crises like HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis, officials said.

The deal came at a heavily-guarded meeting of trade ministers  from 25
nations that was called to kickstart flagging efforts to
liberalise global trade and has been marked by sporadic clashes between
police and anti-globalisation protestors.

The meeting  agreed to back changes that will allow some developing nations
to manufacture generic drugs now protected by Western patents and export the
medicines to other needy countries on a case-by-case basis.

The agreement topped the agenda at the Sydney meeting, which was attended by
a number of African countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and Lesotho which
currently have to import expensive AIDS/HIV drugs from the West.

Also attending were ministers from the United States, the European Union and
Japan, along with new director-general of the
World Trade Organisation (WTO), Supachai Panitchpakdi.

A member of the US trade delegation said the drugs deal represented a
success for the meeting, which then moved on to
discuss dismantling agricultural trade barriers.

"There is a broad consensus that the concerns of the poor countries are a
priority that they will be working to address."

The WTO agreed at a summit in Doha, Qatar, a year ago to let developing
nations override patents held by pharmaceutical
companies in order to produce cheaper generic drugs in times of medical
crises.

But it barred those countries from exporting the generic drugs, leaving the
poorest states which have no pharmaceutical
manufacturing capacity in the lurch. The proposal agreed to Friday is a
compromise between developing nations that wanted to scrap the export
controls on patented medicines and the EU, United States and Switzerland,
which have large pharmaceutical industries and fear Western markets would be
flooded with cheap, generic medicines.

The plan would grant waivers on drug patents on a case-by-case basis and
seek tight controls on trade in the generic medicines.

Outside the meeting, 35 people were arrested as scuffles broke out between
riot police and anti-globalisation protestors .

About 1,500 protestors ignored an official ban on demonstrations for the
duration of the discussions and marched on the talks
venue.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard labelled the protestors a disgrace and
said they did not understand that "trade is even more valuable to developing
countries than aid".

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US drug makers accused of bullying

Sarah Boseley, health editor
Thursday November 14, 2002
The Guardian

The US government and the giant pharmaceutical companies are continuing to
bully poor countries to tighten up their patent rules, hampering efforts to
obtain cheap medicines for people with diseases such as HIV/Aids, according
to a new report.

One year after the historic Doha declaration of the World Trade
Organisation, which said that poor countries could put their public health
needs before compliance with patent rules and buy or make cheap copies of
brand name drugs, Oxfam's review finds that US bullying is partly
responsible for the lack of so many of the vitally-needed medicines.

Each year the US government produces a trade report known as Special 301, in
which the trade representative names countries which it considers to have
inadequate protection for patents. Being named is a warning of potential
trade sanctions.

The USTR named 27 countries in this year's Special 301 report. This is 66%
of those that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
complained about, compared with 61% last year, Oxfam found. The complaints
were mainly directed against those countries that manufacture cheap generic
versions of patented medicines.

"it is now widely accepted that unduly restrictive patent protection raises
prices and therefore reduces access for poor people," says the report.

"Price discounts by companies can help but generic competition is the only
sustainable way of reducing prices and increasing access. This in turn
requires a more flexible application of patent law in developing countries.
And for this to happen, the US government and pharmaceutical companies must
stop their bullying."