PHM-Exch> Medical aid group MSF supports Malaysia's compulsory licensing stance

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: David G Legge <dglegge01 at gmail.com>

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/02/12/medical-aid-group-msf-supp
orts-malaysias-compulsory-licensing-stance/#qxZHBJmhrx2PKkV5.99
<https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/02/12/medical-aid-group-msf-supports-malaysias-compulsory-licensing-stance/#qxZHBJmhrx2PKkV5.99>

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has been facing continuous pressure from
pharmaceutical companies and their political allies ever since it used
compulsory licensing (CL) to gain access to generic versions of a Hepatitis
C drug in 2017.
But an international organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or known
as Doctors Without Borders, has stepped in to support Malaysia's position.
It has sent a letter addressed to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad,
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and Domestic Trade and
Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on Monday (Feb
11), expressing solidarity and support for the Malaysian government as well
as urging it to continue to reject any pressure from pharmaceutical
corporations and their political allies to reverse the government-use
licence.
https://msfaccess.org/malaysias-compulsory-license-sofosbuvir-positive-step-
public-health-and-innovation
<https://msfaccess.org/malaysias-compulsory-license-sofosbuvir-positive-step-public-health-and-innovation>
The letter was also sent to Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham
Abdullah.
(The licence is provided for under the rights and flexibilities of the World
Trade Organisation's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPs) even though the drug patent has not expired.) "Such pressure
violates the integrity and legitimacy of the system of legal rights and
flexibilities created by the TRIPs Agreement, as reaffirmed by the Doha
Declaration for the World Trade Organisation members to meet their rights
and public health obligations," said MSF Access Campaign executive director
Els Torreele in the letter which was uploaded on msfaccess.org website
(msfaccess.org/malaysias-compulsory-license-sofosbuvir-positive-step-public-
health-and-innovation
<http://msfaccess.org/malaysias-compulsory-license-sofosbuvir-positive-step-public-health-and-innovation>)
late Monday.
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