Fuente: © World Bank
http://www.worldbank.org

WTO Approves Generic Drug Measure For Poor Countries

/noticias.info/ The World Trade Organization (WTO) Tuesday confirmed a 2003 agreement to make generic medicines more widely available to poor countries, writes Agence France Presse.

The step was seen as a gesture to the developing world ahead of key WTO ministerial meetings in Hong Kong next week. Members of the 148-member organization confirmed their support for the provisional 2003 accord that allowed poor countries to import generic drugs to treat infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, the WTO said. The 2003 agreement gave poor nations affected by the diseases a temporary exemption from international laws protecting intellectual property rights and enabled them to buy generic drugs from pharmaceutical companies in countries such as Brazil and India.

The general council of the WTO, convening on Tuesday, agreed to make the measure permanent following concerns expressed by developing countries, notably African states, that the mechanism might be revoked. The measure approved Tuesday is to enter into force by December 1, 2007 at the latest, following a final ratification by two-thirds of the WTO membership, the WTO said in its statement.

Reuters reports that because it must be used on a country-by-country, drug-by-drug basis, non-governmental organizations argue the system does not create the sort of large-scale market that gives the economies of scale needed to push down generic drugs' prices. The conditions imposed were one reason why the waiver has so far not been used by any developing country, they say. Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors without Borders) said in a statement, that "(It) has long been viewed by MSF and other public health groups as overly cumbersome and inefficient."

But Kenyan ambassador Amina Mohamed, who chairs the WTO's executive General Council defended the WTO decision, saying that while nobody had yet imported drugs under the system it had nevertheless helped drive down international prices. “We have seen prices drop 70 or 80 percent," she said, adding that she expected her own country to make use of the right to import generics. But MSF and others say that while prices for so-called first line AIDS drugs have fallen, those for second-line medicines, which are needed when the disease begins to develop resistance, have not. "The amendment does not allow for the procurement of medicines through international tendering, which is the most common and efficient way of purchasing drugs," MSF said.

Dow Jones notes the decision comes a week after WTO members agreed to extend the transition period for least-developed countries, allowing them until July 2013 to obtain products usually protected by trademarks, copyright, patents and other intellectual property under the WTO's agreement. Least-developed countries had already been given until 2016 to protect pharmaceutical patents.

In other news, The Financial Times reports that up to $35 billion will be required during the next decade to vaccinate the world's children against the top six killer diseases, according to the World Health Organization. The figures will be presented to delegates at the third partners meeting of GAVI, the global alliance on vaccines and immunization, which opens in New Delhi today. The projections follow a recent boost for GAVI after an initiative by Gordon Brown, UK chancellor, to launch the international finance facility, an instrument that grants the organization $4bn in funds now guaranteed by pledges from governments for future development aid budgets. Norway is expected to pledge significant fresh support this week and in the coming months there may also be significant commitments from some developing nations for the first time. notas_de_prensa_archivo