PHA-Exchange> FW: MSF Statement on TRIPS Council Decision to amend TRIPS

Thu Dec 8 02:31:21 PST 2005

Dear colleagues,

I am forwarding you a statement made by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on
the decision taken by the WTO TRIPS Council on the 6 December 2005 to amend
the TRIPS Agreement (see below).

This amendment incorporates the “30 August 2003 Decision” which aimed to
provide a solution to a problem left unresolved by the Doha Declaration on
TRIPS and Public health: the import/export of generic medicines under
compulsory license to countries that cannot manufacture drugs themselves.

The 30 August Decision was strongly criticized by access to medicines
advocates as being a flawed mechanism that would not reduce the cost of
medicines and ensure access to medicines for all. The final amendment does
not address the problems raised by 53 civil society groups in a letter sent
to the WTO this week which urged States to stall the negotiations until
after the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.

The TRIPS Council decision is an “early harvest” for the WTO negotiators
which may be used to obtain concessions on agriculture, services and
non-agricultural market access (NAMA) from developing and least developed
countries in the WTO negotiations in Hong Kong. 

For an article on the TRIPS Council decision see IP-Watch:
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=169
<http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=169&res=1024&print=0>
&res=1024&print=0

Best wishes,

Davinia

Davinia Ovett

Programme Officer

3D -> Trade - Human Rights - Equitable Economy

15, Rue des Savoises

CH-1205 Genève

Switzerland

Tel: +41 22 320 21 21

Fax: +41 22 320 69 48

Email: dovett at 3dthree.org

Website: www.3dthree.org

  _____  

From: Seco GERARD [mailto:seco.gerard at msf.org] 
Sent: 07 December 2005 10:17
To: AHermanns at iavi.org; colleen at haiweb.org; conalloc at comhlamh.org;
dovett at 3dthree.org; ewuyts at ippfen.org; echiarella at aefjn.org;
joyce.haarbrink at mariestopes-org.be; Katianna.Spyrides at ecpd-eu.org;
gerrold at noos.fr; louis.belanger at oxfaminternational.org;
marta at stopaidsalliance.org; edp at gn.apc.org; tmattholie at ipm-microbicides.org;
Luis.Morago at oxfaminternational.org; mhart at stopaidsalliance.org;
MDiallo at iavi.org; rwebb at global-campaign.org; mksmith at Oxfam.org.uk
Subject: Fw: MSF Statement on TRIPS Council Decision to amend

 Amendment to WTO TRIPS Agreement 
Makes Access to Affordable Medicines Even More Bleak

MSF Expresses Concern that  Patients the World-over Will Have to Pay the
Price

Geneva, Tuesday 6 December 2005 – Médecins Sans Frontières today expressed
alarm at the decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to amend the
TRIPS Agreement based on a mechanism that has failed to prove it can
increase access to medicines. The so-called ‘August 30th decision,’ which
was designed in 2003 to allow production and export of generic medicines,
has long been viewed by MSF and public health groups as overly cumbersome
and inefficient.  Yet to date there is no experience using the mechanism –
not one patient has benefited from its use – despite the fact that newer
medicines, such as second-line AIDS drugs, are priced out of reach of poor
patients.  MSF is already being confronted with steep price increases in our
projects today – we pay five to 30 times more for second-line AIDS medicines
to treat patients that need newer drugs.   

Delaying the amendment would have been a far better option, as it would have
ensured the possibility of testing and improving the mechanism in practice.

This decision shows that the WTO is ignoring the day-to-day reality of drug
production and procurement. The amendment has made permanent a burdensome
drug-by-drug, country-by-country decision-making process, which does not
take into account the fact that economies of scale are needed to attract
interest from manufacturers of medicines. Without the pull of a viable
market for generic pharmaceutical products, manufacturers are not likely to
want to take part in the production-for-export system on a large scale. And
without competition among several manufacturers, MSF fears it will be
extremely difficult to ensure that prices of newer medicines will fall the
way first-generation AIDS medicines did.   

To illustrate the hurdles the newly amended system creates, a country
wishing to import a generic version of a patented medicine would first have
to notify the WTO of its exact needs regarding the patented medicine, and of
its intent to issue a compulsory license in order to import it.  Only after
that could another country also issue a compulsory license to authorize the
generic manufacture of the medicine for export. But the compulsory license
issued by the first country would only be for the declared needs of one
other country. The amendment does not allow for the procurement of medicines
through international tendering, which is the most common and efficient way
of purchasing drugs. 

MSF therefore calls on the WTO to provide evidence by the end of next year
demonstrating that the mechanism it is putting in place can bring an end to
the negative effects that full TRIPS implementation has on access to
medicines. 

Contact:         Ellen ‘t Hoen                +33.6.223.758.71 

Seco Gerard                 +32.479.514.900 

Seco GERARD
MSF Access to Medicines Campaign's EU Liaison Officer
C/O MSF
Rue Dupré 94
1090 Brussels
32 2 474 75 09 (dir off)
32 479 514 900 (mobile) 

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