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USA-Morocco deal may extend drug patents to 30 years
MEDICINE AND HEALTH POLICY
USA–Morocco deal may extend drug patents to 30 years free trade agreement due to be signed between Morocco and the USA by the end of this year could threaten access to medicines, several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned last week. In separate statements, Morocco’s Association de Lutte contre le SIDA (ALCS) and Act Up Paris accused the USA of aggressively pursuing a bilateral free trade agreement with Morocco to extend provisions required by World Trade Organization (WTO). The agreement could increase the duration of patent protection from its current 20 years to nearly 30 years. ALCS said countries that have already signed free trade agreements with the USA have been forced to renounce some of their rights to use generic drugs. But, according to ALCS, the USA–Morocco draft agreement has infinitely “more constraining provisions” than those signed by other countries. “If these provisions are ratified . . . [it] will be a serious precedent for which the countries of the south will blame Morocco, but these countries will continue to battle for access to generic medicines”, ALCS pointed out. “The USA does not seem satisfied with the agreements made at an international level and they are trying to push through bilateral and regional agreements with stricter standards on intellectual property than those agreed in the WTO”, Sabina Voogd, Nethelands Ministry of Foreign Affairs Policy Coherence Unit, told The Lancet. WTO acknowledges that the TRIPS agreement should not stop countries taking measures to protect public health. One of the provisions in the proposed draft is to make up for delays in the patent office. “But these extensions have nothing to do with creating better inventions”, comments Michael Davis (Cleveland State University College of Law, Ohio, USA).
A
1904
AP
Rights were not granted to include this image in electronic media. Please refer to the printed journal.
Increased patent protection in Morocco may disadvantage foreign manufacturers of generic drugs
“The problem is that the only type of patents to benefit from the extension are medical ones. It is not clear why an aeronautical patent, for instance, should not get a similar extension”, he says. Moreover, according to Davis, the extra 3 years or so for finding new uses of intellectual property is a
perversion of patent law. He said: “A new use is entitled to its own patent if it is inventive. If it is not inventive, it is simply a violation of patent principles to extend the patent for a non-inventive advance.” The generic industry employs thousands of people in Morocco and helps to save
the Health Ministry millions of dirhams per year. But Gaëlle Krikorian of Act Up Paris complains that generic manufacturers are being excluded from the negotiations, which threaten to destroy the domestic generic industry. Khabir Ahmad
Launch of AIDS fund for Red Cross staff he International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched a fund on Nov 27 to treat staff and volunteers with AIDS, saying it was vital for the survival of the organisation. The Masambo Fund, named after a Zimbabwean worker who died in 2001, will provide access to antiretroviral therapy to staff and volunteers, many of whom are working on the HIV/AIDS frontline, but are dying through lack of treatment. “We estimate that there must be at least 200 000 people in our organisation who are living with HIV/AIDS. This poses an enormous challenge, not only to our ability to carry out our humanitarian mandate, but also to the survival of our organisation”, said Razia Essack-Kauaria, a board member of the Geneva-based federation and secretarygeneral of the Namibian Red Cross. Money for the Masambo Fund will be raised through voluntary annual contributions by each Red Cross and Red Crescent society and by staff donations. It is hoped to pay for 5 years of treatment, initially for 300 people.
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The Red Cross, which has 97 million employees and voluntary aid workers worldwide, said it hoped to encourage other organisations and companies to provide similar care programmes. “We get our members of staff from the community”, said Tito Fachi, president of the Zambian Red Cross, saying that—like ordinary Africans—few local Red Cross workers could afford antiretrovirals. “As a humanitarian organisation, we can’t afford to keep our hands folded. There’s been a missing link, and that’s treatment within our own organisation”, Fachi added. Leading multinational companies, such as Coca Cola, Daimler Crysler, Anglo American, and De Beers, have programmes providing free or subsidised health care to HIV-infected employees, mainly in Africa. As the new “3 by 5” campaign gathers pace (see page 1900), WHO and UNAIDS are looking to corporations and private organisations to join governments in the struggle to expand access to therapy. Clare Kapp
THE LANCET • Vol 362 • December 6, 2003 • www.thelancet.com
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet publishing Group.
USA–Morocco deal may extend drug patents to 30 years free trade agreement due to be signed between Morocco and the USA by the end of this year could threaten access to medicines, several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned last week. In separate statements, Morocco’s Association de Lutte contre le SIDA (ALCS) and Act Up Paris accused the USA of aggressively pursuing a bilateral free trade agreement with Morocco to extend provisions required by World Trade Organization (WTO). The agreement could increase the duration of patent protection from its current 20 years to nearly 30 years. ALCS said countries that have already signed free trade agreements with the USA have been forced to renounce some of their rights to use generic drugs. But, according to ALCS, the USA–Morocco draft agreement has infinitely “more constraining provisions” than those signed by other countries. “If these provisions are ratified . . . [it] will be a serious precedent for which the countries of the south will blame Morocco, but these countries will continue to battle for access to generic medicines”, ALCS pointed out. “The USA does not seem satisfied with the agreements made at an international level and they are trying to push through bilateral and regional agreements with stricter standards on intellectual property than those agreed in the WTO”, Sabina Voogd, Nethelands Ministry of Foreign Affairs Policy Coherence Unit, told The Lancet. WTO acknowledges that the TRIPS agreement should not stop countries taking measures to protect public health. One of the provisions in the proposed draft is to make up for delays in the patent office. “But these extensions have nothing to do with creating better inventions”, comments Michael Davis (Cleveland State University College of Law, Ohio, USA).
A
1904
AP
Rights were not granted to include this image in electronic media. Please refer to the printed journal.
Increased patent protection in Morocco may disadvantage foreign manufacturers of generic drugs
“The problem is that the only type of patents to benefit from the extension are medical ones. It is not clear why an aeronautical patent, for instance, should not get a similar extension”, he says. Moreover, according to Davis, the extra 3 years or so for finding new uses of intellectual property is a
perversion of patent law. He said: “A new use is entitled to its own patent if it is inventive. If it is not inventive, it is simply a violation of patent principles to extend the patent for a non-inventive advance.” The generic industry employs thousands of people in Morocco and helps to save
the Health Ministry millions of dirhams per year. But Gaëlle Krikorian of Act Up Paris complains that generic manufacturers are being excluded from the negotiations, which threaten to destroy the domestic generic industry. Khabir Ahmad
Launch of AIDS fund for Red Cross staff he International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched a fund on Nov 27 to treat staff and volunteers with AIDS, saying it was vital for the survival of the organisation. The Masambo Fund, named after a Zimbabwean worker who died in 2001, will provide access to antiretroviral therapy to staff and volunteers, many of whom are working on the HIV/AIDS frontline, but are dying through lack of treatment. “We estimate that there must be at least 200 000 people in our organisation who are living with HIV/AIDS. This poses an enormous challenge, not only to our ability to carry out our humanitarian mandate, but also to the survival of our organisation”, said Razia Essack-Kauaria, a board member of the Geneva-based federation and secretarygeneral of the Namibian Red Cross. Money for the Masambo Fund will be raised through voluntary annual contributions by each Red Cross and Red Crescent society and by staff donations. It is hoped to pay for 5 years of treatment, initially for 300 people.
T
The Red Cross, which has 97 million employees and voluntary aid workers worldwide, said it hoped to encourage other organisations and companies to provide similar care programmes. “We get our members of staff from the community”, said Tito Fachi, president of the Zambian Red Cross, saying that—like ordinary Africans—few local Red Cross workers could afford antiretrovirals. “As a humanitarian organisation, we can’t afford to keep our hands folded. There’s been a missing link, and that’s treatment within our own organisation”, Fachi added. Leading multinational companies, such as Coca Cola, Daimler Crysler, Anglo American, and De Beers, have programmes providing free or subsidised health care to HIV-infected employees, mainly in Africa. As the new “3 by 5” campaign gathers pace (see page 1900), WHO and UNAIDS are looking to corporations and private organisations to join governments in the struggle to expand access to therapy. Clare Kapp
THE LANCET • Vol 362 • December 6, 2003 • www.thelancet.com
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet publishing Group.