|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 
FTAA: Affordable Medicines Threatened
Contents
|
 |
Profits ahead of patients |
|
 |
 |
The FTAA threatens to compound problems caused by previous government decisions that have positioned multinational profits ahead of patient interests. In 1993, with the introduction of Bill C-91, the Mulroney government aligned Canada’s drug patent legislation with the requirements of NAFTA and the WTO. The bill creates huge monopolies for multinational pharmaceutical companies by enforcing patents on prescription drugs for 20 years. Only after a 20-year patent expires can Canada’s generic producers, which produce drugs for 25% to 50% per cent less, compete for a market share.
This creates a horrible strain on our health care system, where $12.3 billion are already spent annually on prescription drugs, a figure that has doubled in the last twenty years. For instance, prescriptions for AIDS patients in the US cost between US$10,000 to $15,000 per year, even though generic producers could produce the same medications for just US$300 per year.
The multinational pharmaceuticals boost profits even more with a practice called “evergreening” which allows drug manufacturers to reapply for new 20-year patents after making only minor modifications to their products.
Top
of page
|
Existing legislation offers hope |
|
|
|
Existing legislation, specifically Article 31 in the 1995 Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) does provide a legal mechanism for Canada to circumvent these problems and amend Bill C-91. The TRIPS stipulation would allow national governments to require patent holders to share their patents through the issuing of “compulsory licenses”. Compulsory licenses do not eliminate patent rights, but they do oblige patent owners to allow the producers of generic medicines to make copies of their patented medicines in return for payment of royalties.
The TRIPS clause on compulsary licenses was reaffirmed in Novmember,
2001 by the 142 Trade Ministers who met in Doha, Qatar and agreed
that “each( WTO) member has the right to grant compulsory
licenses and the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such
licenses are granted.”
|
U.S. negotiators serve multinational interests |
|
|
|
As FTAA negotiations proceed, it is clear that the U.S. government intends to violate the spirit of the Doha declaration, support the profit driven interests of the multinational pharmaceutical industry, and possibly wipe out any chance that governments in the Americas could use compulsory licensing as a mechanism to ensure affordable medicines.
Specifically, the proposals advanced by U.S. negotiatior Robert Zoellick would:
Restrict the use of compulsory licenses to only “public non-commercial purposes or in situations of a declared national emergency or other situations of extreme urgency.” This would restrict the sales of generic medicines only to government agencies, disallowing direct sales by generic producers to the public as a means of lowering prices.
Prolong patents to compensate owners for delays that might occur in the patent granting process. If this proposal is accepted, the period of monopoly could be extended despite the fact that the current 20-year period patents already take into account the possibility of delays.
Require health authorities to notify patent owners about the identity of any firm that applies to sell a generic version of a patented medication. This would burden agencies, which should be concerned exclusively with drug quality and safety, with the additional task of ensuring the “rights” of patent holders.
Allow pharmaceutical companies to withhold the information they collect to ensure the safety of their products. This proposal would bar generic producers from using existing data, forcing them to duplicate safety tests instead of just having to prove the bio-equivalence of their products.
If these measures come into force, the implications for countries struggling against life threatening illnesses such as the AIDS pandemic will be immense. For instance, Brazil recently pioneered a successful program that provides medicines free of charge to every person suffering from AIDS. The Brazilian program, which has cut AIDS death rates in half, is possible because the government buys generic medicines at lower prices. The FTAA, as currently drafted, would severely jeopardize this life-saving program..
If the US gets its way in the FTAA, even a modest proposal put
forward by Canada to allow generic producers to stockpile drugs
during the last months of a patent’s term for sale upon its
expiry would be jeopardized.
|
First Major Section |
|
|
|
Text