All Posts Tagged With: "Drug Patents"
The Hudson Institute on Drug Patents
Drug Patents and the Future - Hudson Institute, December 2001
Excerpt: A worldwide campaign is now well underway to demonize pharmaceutical companies and champion generic drugs. Former Vice President Al Gore employed this argument in his last presidential campaign as do various organizations including Doctors Without Borders, Act-Up, the AARP and a host of others.
Drug Patents and Patients
Busting Drug Patents Won’t Help Patients - OC Register, April 2008
Excerpt: Thailand’s health minister announced a few weeks ago that the nation’s state-run drug manufacturer, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, would continue to violate the patents on four key cancer drugs. Health activists from across the world are applauding the move, apparently believing that intellectual-property rights are an obstacle to bringing medicine to the world’s poorest and sickest citizens.
Drug Patent Piracy Article from WSJ
Drug Patent Piracy - WSJ, May 2007
Excerpt: The U.S. Trade Representative recently named the usual suspects for its annual “Special 301″ list of countries whose disregard for intellectual property rights merit special attention. In addition to perennials like China, Russia and India, Thailand — the sole newcomer — was elevated to the rank of top offenders on this year’s Priority Watch list for combining piracy and transparency problems with an ill-conceived compulsory drug licensing scheme.
New York Times Article on Drug Patents
India Alters Law on Drug Patents - New York Times, March 2005
Excerpt: India, a major source of inexpensive AIDS drugs, passed a new patent law yesterday that groups providing drugs to the world’s poorest patients fear will choke off their supply of new treatments.
AIDS Drug Patents
Don’t Commend Theft of AIDS Drug Patents - The Hill, October 2007
Excerpt: Imagine if Congress sponsored a resolution praising a foreign government — which recently seized power in a military coup — for stealing from U.S. companies and deliberately undermining the fight against AIDS.
Drug Patent Expirations
Investing in Drug Delivery Technologies: Fighting Drug Patent Expiries - PRZoom, September 2008
Excerpt: Investing in new drug delivery technologies is becoming a critical strategy for them to maintain a strong presence in this cut-throat market as they offer the potential to enhance the life cycle of established drugs.
Daily Policy Digest: Drug Patents
Drug Patents Under Assault - NCPA, November 2002
Excerpt:The Wall Street Journal warns that countries and allied activist groups are trying to use the latest World Trade Organization negotiations, called the Doha round, to strip away protection for drug patents.
- Last year’s Doha declaration said the world’s poorest countries should be allowed to ignore patents when faced with epidemics including HIV, malaria and TB.
- The United States went along with the measure because of its narrow scope, and even the U.S. drug industry didn’t object.
- But the list of alleged justifications for patent seizure is growing — the latest drafts would allow any country to import copycat drugs when faced with any self-declared epidemic — be it cancer or erectile dysfunction.
PhRMA Statement on Drug Patents and Innovation
Drug Patents are Good For Our Health - PhRMA, June 2006
Excerpt: For the past several months, Abbott Laboratories has engaged in highly publicized negotiations with the government of Brazil over the purchase of Aids medications. This negotiation has just been concluded positively: Abbott further reduced the cost of treatment per patient and the government agreed to honor our patent. But we cannot let the agreement end discussion of the ideas involved; it is essential that we consider their implications so as to avoid situations that might not be so fortunately resolved. What hangs in the balance is how the world will continue to develop the medicines it needs. Abbott discovered and developed Kaletra, the most widely used protease inhibitor medication to fight Aids by blocking the replication of HIV. The government of Brazil said that it would break our patent and produce a generic version locally in order to treat more patients. Brazil moved from this position and agreed to an arrangement that meets not only its needs and ours, but the world’s - the need for continued innovation of new and better treatments for new and worse diseases.
Oh My News Weighs in on Drug Patents
Drug Patents Don’t Kill Poor Patients - Oh My News, June 2007
Excerpt: The situation with access to basic healthcare in Africa is extremely dire. Ghana for instance has fewer than one doctor per 10,000 patients; France has almost 40 for the same number of people. The mental health picture in the West African country is even bleaker: about one psychiatrist for every one million people. Even in relatively affluent South Africa, 50 percent of the population has no access to basic pharmaceuticals.
Dangerous AIDS Policy, Drug patents are not the problem
By Thompson Ayodele | From today’s Wall Street Journal Europe
LAGOS, Nigeria, Today, as we mark World AIDS Day, we should take stock of the suffering this disease continues to inflict, particularly in developing countries.
Twenty-five years after the disease was first discovered, AIDS continues to claim around two million lives each year. As an African, I’ve witnessed the suffering first-hand. My home region of sub-Saharan Africa has 12% of the world’s population, but accounts for two-thirds of those infected with AIDS and 75% of all AIDS-related deaths.
Western activists continue to blame the high price of drugs for the disease’s continued prevalence in Africa. They argue that poor countries should be permitted to break pharmaceutical patents to produce cheap knock-off versions at home.
Unfortunately, the activists are not just wrong; their policy proposal is flat-out dangerous. The real causes of restricted access to AIDS drugs are Africa’s derelict transportation systems, widespread corruption and poor utility infrastructure.
Most of the high-quality AIDS drugs that Africa imports have to be transported over vast distances and stored for extended periods of time before they can be distributed. But the roads and warehouses in most African countries are poorly maintained. Electricity, needed to keep drugs refrigerated, is scarce. Corrupt officials often exploit weaknesses in the supply chain, and extort hefty bribes from aid personnel.
In 2001, African leaders pledged to invest 15% of their budgets in health-care infrastructure. Seven years later, very few have come even close to meeting that commitment. Nigeria, for example, devotes less than 6% of its budget to health. Most of Africa’s impoverished people still lack health insurance. Medical workers earn low wages, which has led to low morale and a dearth of qualified personnel. The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwifes says the country’s hospitals urgently need 300,000 additional nurses.
The trade policies of African governments often make the AIDS problem worse. Generic drugs imported into Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are subject to a 10% tariff. The rate jumps to 40% in Sierra Leone, and to 50% in Kenya. Nigeria charges an import tariff of up to 39%.
Giving African governments the power to locally manufacture patent-protected pharmaceuticals will likely result in patients receiving low-quality drugs. In Thailand and India, for example, locally produced Aids drugs are often of such low quality that they’re actually fueling drug resistance.
Read more about drug patents and AIDS in Africa.