PHA-Exch> WHO seeks affordable medicine for poor, without stifling drug companies

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au>
crosposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/05/news/UN-MED-UN-Drugs-and-Patents.php

WHO seeks affordable medicine for poor, without stifling drug companies


GENEVA: The U.N. health chief urged countries on Monday to come up with new
ways
to make medicine for HIV/AIDS and other diseases more affordable in the
world's
poorest countries, without stifling innovation among pharmaceutical
companies.

The World Health Organization's 193 member states are hoping to forge a
global
strategy on the highly divisive issues of drug development, patenting and
pricing by the end of the week.

"People should not be denied access to lifesaving and health-promoting
interventions for unfair reasons," said Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's
director-general, in opening the agency's first meeting devoted to the
subject
since May, when the United States walked out of a negotiating session and
dissociated itself from a WHO resolution.

Chan said she was aware that the "price of medicines and other products can
be
prohibitive, effectively blocking access to care." But, she added, public
health
needs innovation.

"Resistance develops and drugs fail, creating an urgent need for second- and
third-line medicines," she told the meeting in Geneva. "We have seen this
problem most acutely with HIV/AIDS. We are seeing it again with the spread
of
extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, which is far more costly and
difficult
to treat."

*...a bit puzzling to me...*
* Claudio*

[Under rules agreed by the World Trade Organization, countries can issue
so-called "compulsory licenses" to disregard patent rights, but only after
negotiating with the patent owners and paying them adequate compensation. If
they declare a public health emergency, governments can skip the
negotiating.

Brazil and Thailand have invoked the procedure to import cheap generic
versions
of American AIDS drugs, among other medicines, to treat patients who
developed
resistance to older anti-retrovirals and needed more expensive, second-line
drugs.

The moves by Brazil and Thailand were praised by health campaigners but
criticized by industry groups. The United States later placed Thailand on a
copyright watch list of nations where American companies face problems
protecting intellectual property rights. Countries on the list are under
extra
scrutiny and can face trade sanctions if alleged violations worsen.

The international aid group Oxfam says compulsory licensing almost never
occurs
because developing countries face pressure from rich governments acting on
behalf of their drug companies. Its report last year on drug access cited
WHO
statistics that 74 percent of AIDS medicines are still under monopoly, and
that
77 percent of Africans still lack any access to AIDS treatment].
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