OXFAM DECRIES DRUGMAKERS' CHALLENGES OF TRIPS AGREEMENT

Aid organization Oxfam has issued a statement criticizing three high-profile patent disputes that could have a devastating effect on poor people's access to affordable medicines. Three companies -- Novartis, Merck and Pfizer -- are resisting moves by India, Thailand and the Philippines to use safeguards that are written into World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to protect public health, the groups says.

While some companies, including Merck and Novartis, have said they will lower prices or donate drugs, Oxfam says that this is not the long-term solution to sustainable access to affordable medicines.

The government of Thailand has issued a compulsory license for efavirenz, an HIV drug made by Merck. The compulsory license would temporarily override the patent belonging to Merck and enable Thailand to import generic efavirenz from India, while Thailand develops its own generic version, according to Oxfam. However, Merck is resisting the compulsory license and has offered instead to discount prices or give a voluntary license.

In the Philippines, Pfizer has taken the government to court in a bid to extend the patent protection on its hypertension drug Norvasc. The country has begun importing a generic version of Norvasc from India in order to approve it for sale immediately upon the expiry of Pfizer's patent in 2007. Despite this being legal under Filipino law and international trade rules, according to Oxfam, Pfizer has sued the government.

In India, the government is being taken to court by Novartis. The case began in 2005 when activist groups successfully stopped the issuing of a patent Glivec, a cancer drug. This allowed Indian companies to continue making cheaper generic versions. Novartis has appealed and challenged India's right to interpret TRIPS, according to Oxfam.