DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DON'T BENEFIT FROM TRIPS, REPORT SAYS

British advocacy group Oxfam has published a report saying that developing countries are still being denied cheaper life-saving drugs five years after the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued its Doha Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. The declaration recognizes the right of countries to promote universal access to affordable drugs.

But Oxfam says that rich countries are taking little or no action toward their obligations and are in some cases actually undermining the declaration. Developing countries must be able to use public health safeguards written into the TRIPS Agreement to promote access to cheaper generic drugs, for generic competition is the most sustainable way to keep drug prices down, the group says.

French organization Médecins Sans Frontières has issued a statement on the report pointing out that while increased generic competition has helped prices for first-line HIV drugs to fall by 99 percent from $10,000 to roughly $130 per patient per year since 2000, prices for second-line drugs remain high due to increased patent barriers in key generics-producing countries like India.

Another part of the problem is that drug companies have been challenging these countries that have sought to use the TRIPS safeguards, Oxfam says. In 2005 patient groups in India stopped Novartis' patent application for its cancer drug, Glivec, allowing Indian companies to continue making cheaper generic versions of the drug. But Novartis has been fighting the court's decision. Also, Pfizer is suing the Philippine government for approving a cheaper version of Norvasc, Pfizer's heart disease drug, Oxfam says.

The group is calling for an end to these lawsuits, along with action by the WTO and rich countries to support the use of the TRIPS safeguards.

The report, "Patents vs. Patients: Five Years After the Doha Declaration," can be viewed at www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/health/bp95_patents.htm.