Kaburu Mugambi
8 June 2007
Heiligendamm, Germany — International humanitarian aid organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, has expressed fears that the developed countries meeting here in Germany would strengthen pharmaceutical patent rules to protect their drug manufacturers.
Tightening the patent laws, the organisation says would make people especially in Africa lack enough access to medicine. Medecines Sans Frontieres (MSF) or doctors without borders coordinator Oliver Moldenhauer told reporters on the sidelines of the G8 summit, that developed countries should allow poor countries produce or to import generic medicines without the consent of the patent holder.
"We foresee G8 leaders trying to tighten patent laws to restrict access to generic medicines, which have led to massive reduction in medicine prices and it is very unfortunate," Mr Moldenhauer said yesterday at Rostock city.
The single most important factor in forcing down the prices of medicines is generic competition. The lowest priced Aids drug plummeted from more than $10,000 (Sh690,000) per patient per year to less than $200 (Sh13,800) between 2000 and 2004. A drug's patent holders can sell the medicine at any price for the duration of the patent: usually 20 years.
"Protection of patents seems very important in developed countries, but they forget the problem of medicine in developing countries," Mr Moldenhauer said. "You can't treat medicine like shoes."
Safeguards
The rules governing pharmaceutical patents are enshrined in the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) Agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), signed in 1994. The agreement includes safeguards that countries can use to ensure patents do not limit access to medicines.
For instance, countries can allow the production or importation of generic medicines without consent of the patent holder, or look for the cheapest available version of the brand-name drug on the global market. MSF appealed for the implementation of national regulations that would offer maximum flexibility to set patents aside in order to "promote access to medicines for all."
Mr Moldenhauer said although Thailand and Brazil have started manufacturing generic medicines without consent from their patents' holders United States has been exerting pressure on the two countries to cease production.
"MSF is also calling on governments to keep intellectual property rights out of regional or bilateral trade agreements negotiated between countries," he added.
"These agreements impose more stringent patent protection that required by the Trips Agreement and hamper the use of more affordable, generic medicines in other ways." It called on governments and pharmaceutical companies to finance research in developing drugs for what it called forgotten diseases.
It said sleeping sickness, tuberculosis and malaria kill millions of people every year, but attract little interest from drug firms.
"This is compounded by the fact that governments and the international community have failed to encourage research and development of new drugs for these neglected diseases."
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