[e-drug] European Union joins fight over drug patents

[e-drug@usa.healthnet.org]

E-drug: European Union joins fight over drug patents
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

BMJ 2001;323:12 ( 7 July )
News
European Union joins fight over drug patents
Rory Watson, Brussels
The European Union is trying to use international patent rules to help 
developing countries obtain cheaper drugs for fighting life threatening 
diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

It is pressing the World Trade Organisation to apply flexibility to the 
agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights to take account of 
wider policy objectives, such as public health.

Pascal Lamy, the EU trade commissioner pushing the initiative, explained: 
"Whilst we acknowledge that patents are essential to encourage investment 
in the development of new medicines, we need to interpret and apply the 
rules in such a way as to support developing countries in their battle 
against killer diseases. These matters are too important to be left to the 
whim of lawyers."

In particular, the union wants clarification that a developing country 
without any capacity for pharmaceutical production should be allowed to 
import medicines produced in another country under a compulsory licence.

Under compulsory licensing, patent holders are obliged by law to authorise 
others to manufacture their drugs for a fee. However, the absence of any 
explicit reference to public health in the current wording of the agreement 
has made countries reluctant to use such an option for fear of sparking off 
expensive litigation.

The initiative is part of the European Commission's wider strategy of 
encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to commit itself to a global tiered 
pricing systema policy recently endorsed by EU governments.

Although the Commonwealth Medical Association supports the union's efforts 
to tackle these three diseases in the developing world, it recently told 
European MPs that the prevention of HIV/AIDS in girls was the most urgent 
challenge.


--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Information and archive http://satellife.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to:  `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.