Press Release

Oxfam Ireland: Rich countries betraying their obligations to help poor countries protect public health

Poor people are still being denied cheaper life-saving medicines says Oxfam in a report published today marking the fifth anniversary of the "Doha Declaration". According to the report 'Patents vs Patients: Five years after the Doha Declaration', rich countries are taking little or no action towards their obligations and are in some cases actually undermining the declaration.

The declaration, agreed at the World Trade Organisation Ministerial meeting in Doha in 2001, says that developing countries must be able to use public health safeguards written into the WTO's intellectual property rules (called TRIPS) in order to access cheaper generic versions of patented medicines. says Oxfam.

"Rich countries have broken the spirit of the Doha Declaration," said Colin Roche Oxfam Ireland's Advocacy Executive. "The declaration said the right things but needed political action to work. That hasn't happened. We've gone backwards. People are still suffering or dying needlessly."

The World Health Organization says that 74% of AIDS medicines are still under monopoly, 77% of Africans still have no access to AIDS treatment, and 30% of the world's population still do not have regular access to essential medicines.

There are many reasons for this but one of the most important is that rich countries, particularly the US, are bullying developing countries to impose stricter intellectual property rules in order to preserve pharmaceutical monopolies. This is restricting generic competition and keeping prices high.

"Global health statistics are grim but the US continues to negotiate trade deals with even stricter rules that limit how a country can use public health safeguards," said Roche. If implemented, these deals will result in Colombia having to pay an additional $940 million per year by 2020 to cover the increased cost of medicines, affecting nearly 6 million patients. Similarly in Peru, where the price of medicines could increase by 100% in 10 years and 162% in 18 years.

Other rich countries, particularly those among the European Union, have quietly consented to US actions. Pharmaceutical companies have gone even further by directly challenging countries such as India that have sought to use the safeguards.

"Rich countries must live up to their commitments and stop undermining the Doha Declaration with their selfish actions," Roche said. "Now more than ever we need a global trading system that puts health before profit and makes medicines affordable for all."

Note to Editors

1. Since 2001 things have become worse for sick people in developing countries:

More than 4 million people were newly infected by HIV in 2005;
Cancer - once considered a "burden of the rich" - is increasingly affecting people in developing countries, with the rate of disease due to double by 2020 and 60% of new cases occurring in the developing world;
Diabetes has risen from 30 million to 230 million people in the past 20 years with most new cases now reported in poorer countries.

2. In 2005, cancer patient groups in India used Indian intellectual property law to stop a patent application by the Swiss company Novartis for its anti-cancer drug, Glivec. This allowed Indian companies to continue making generic versions at $2,700 per patient a year, as opposed to Novartis having a monopoly priced version for sale at $27,000 per patient a year.

However Novartis recently appealed the court's decision in a direct challenge to India's right to interpret the TRIPS Agreement to protect public health. If Novartis is successful, it could jeopardize India's generic export industry. India is the world's leader exporter of generic medicines, with 67% of its exports going to developing countries.

"Novartis has told Oxfam that there is no commercial market for Glivec in India and that it is challenging India in order to align Indian intellectual property law with TRIPS," Roche says. "However, India is only trying to use the flexibilities rightfully available to it under TRIPS and Novartis is seeking to block that right."

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