Inter Press Service - May 22, 2003
Gustavo Capdevila

The Brazilian and U.S. delegations presented divergent proposals for resolutions on the matters of intellectual property rights, drug development and public health being considered by the maximum body of the World Health Organisation, meeting here since Monday.

Of the 1,393 new medicines introduced on international markets over the past 25 years, just 16 are intended to fight tropical diseases (malaria, sleeping sickness) or tuberculosis, says a study by the non-governmental organisations Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders), Oxfam and Health Action International (HAI).

This is evidence that the existing intellectual property protection system only stimulates research of diseases that are widespread in the industrialised world, according to the health rights activists.

The discussions among the ministers of the WHO member nations, gathered in Geneva for the World Health Assembly until May 28, reflect the controversy on pharmaceutical patents and poor countries' access to medications that has unfolded over the past several years in international forums on health, trade or intellectual property.

The Brazilian initiative is based on the principle that public health takes priority over commercial interests, an approach that was consecrated by the ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Doha, Qatar, in 2001.

Brazil is hoping to convince the 192 WHO member states to adopt the criteria established in the WTO Doha Declaration.

Brazilian representative Jorge Zepeda Bermudez said his delegation had convinced other developing nations to co-sponsor the initiative.

The bloc of African nations had already resolved to back the Brazilian proposal, a WHO official told IPS, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Indonesia, Thailand, Bolivia, Cuba, Peru and Venezuela also plan to support the proposal when it comes up for vote, probably on Monday.

The United States, meanwhile, aims to ensure that WHO policies are based on support for bio-medical research, whether in developing or industrialised countries.

When countries request assistance for national strategies in medical technology and development, the WHO should refer them to other agencies, like the WTO and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), according to the U.S. text.

But the expertise of the WTO and WIPO is not geared towards the objectives of public health, said MSF policy and research coordinator Ellen 't Hoen.

The mission of WIPO is to strengthen and increase protection of intellectual property, while that of the WHO is to protect public health, she said.

A broad group of NGOs spoke out against the proposal of the United States, which argues that intellectual property protections stimulate investment in pharmaceutical research and development.

Washington's argument ignores evidence that the current patent system fails when it comes to promoting research and development for fighting diseases that affect the world's poor, say activists.

"The market fails to deliver products that meet health needs," noted 't Hoen.

From 1975 to 1999, just one percent of new medicines approved by health authorities worldwide were intended to combat tropical diseases and tuberculosis, which represent 11.4 percent of the world's disease burden.

And while HIV/AIDS is a scourge in Sub-Saharan Africa, and rapidly spreading in other impoverished regions, research is mostly focused on treatments feasible within the health systems of wealthy countries, where individuals and governments are more likely to be able to afford the life-saving medications.

The U.S. draft resolution is based on blind belief in the patent system, without taking into account the reality of the ill who desperately need new and more effective medical technologies and improved access to existing medicines, according to the NGOs.

MSF, Oxfam and HAI were joined in their criticism of the U.S. draft resolution by Health GAP, Act Up Paris, Peoples Health Movement, Treatment Action Campaign, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Stop AIDS Now.

In regards to intellectual property, MSF presented a report, "Drug Patents Under the Spotlight", intended to correct "some erroneous ideas" about pharmaceutical patents and to help poor governments overcome the barriers posed by multinational drug manufacturers' patents.

The study underscores the efforts already mad by poor countries to surmount the obstacles created by property rights over drug patents as they seek access to vital medicines.

Developing countries have legal manoeuvring room to ensure that their patent systems comply with public health objectives, said Pascale Boulet, MSF legal adviser.

Patents are instruments of social policy, noted 't Hoen. As such, when they involve medicines, intellectual property rights should be measured in function of the needs of the population, whose lives depend on those pharmaceuticals, she added.

The Brazil-led proposal calls for the creation of an independent commission to gather information and proposals from various actors and present a report about intellectual property rights, drugs research and public health to the next World Health Assembly.

The idea of a commission is based on a body created by the British government, which in 2002 concluded that the intellectual property system in practice serves only to promote research and development related to the diseases predominant in the major markets of the industrialised North.

The proposed commission should have a clear mandate, said 't Hoen.

MSF and the other NGOs also put forth the proposal that the WHO should consider an international agreement that would set health priorities and then foment research and development based on those priorities.

***** + World Health Assembly 2003(http://www.who.int/gb/)

+ Medecins Sans Frontieres (http://www.msf.org/)
030522
IP030516

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2003. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .