PHA-Exchange> Efforts to overcome patent obstacles

[Aviva]

Dear exchangers. I am in Sudan and had 6 ds of problems with my 
remotemail so pha-exch was silent. I have solved the problem and am on 
line again. Sorry, you may get many panding messages in the next 3 ds.
Claudio
your moderator

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.

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