L'accesso ai medicinali by poor countries and developing
Dear friends, Call
a bit 'of your attention to a problem that often falls obscuring information, plus when the information is dealing with does so in a superficial and often distort the news, the problem is one of the most shameful aspects of this system towards life and humanity: access to medicines for poor countries and developing countries.
1) Scenario
The inaccessibility of essential medicines is based on the economic difference between the developed world, countries in the developing world.
Rules of profit, when applied to weak economies, prevent the solution of health problems affecting millions of people in an African country, the cost of a drug or a day care can easily exceed the annual income of a citizen.
The high costs are mainly off-patent drugs. The company owning the patent has the exclusive right to manufacture the drug and to determine the price for the whole period of patent protection (20 years).
The price of essential drugs is then determined by the intellectual property rights, the right production and sales strategies that seek to profit from the advanced world parameters.
Upon expiration of the patent, the drug becomes a generic and can be manufactured by other companies. The competition usually results in a drastic drop in price.
Therefore, only generic drugs or patented drugs produced locally but the price is adjusted on the actual financial resources of the country where it is sold.
This system is based on the political and commercial guaranteed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and enshrined in the TRIPS agreement.
MSF's campaign tries to leverage on the few spaces free from market logic, to affirm
* the right to health;
* not only the nature commercial drug product;
* the viability of new forms of investment in research.
In April 2001 the South African government's legal victory in the case brought by 39 pharmaceutical companies said, with the support of international public opinion, MSF and other organizations, the priority of the right to health on the logic of profit .
2) TRIPS
The World Trade Organization (WTO), founded in 1995, regulates the patenting of products and manufacturing processes, to prevent trade in counterfeit goods.
the 1996 agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights - TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) - also covers drugs: it bans the production and binding on local importation, sale and use authorization of the patentee.
A partial exception is guaranteed by Article 30 which allows parallel imports for public health reasons and for limited periods of time: if a patented product costs $ 100 and 80 in country A to country B, A can import from B without seeking the consent of the patent holder.
The TRIPS agreement does not contain clauses that provide funding for pharmaceutical research and tropical realistic prices for lifesaving drugs.
Developed countries have adjusted immediately (1997) to these rules, while the countries in the developing world and was granted time until January 2000, and a transition period until 2005, which extends to 2008 for the 48 poorest countries.
who does not respect the rules incurs trade sanctions.
The TRIPS Agreement has several consequences: *
the monopoly produces an increase in the cost of drugs, which in turn implies a shortage in poor countries;
* local producers who will manufacture and sell patented goods are forced to pay expensive licenses;
* local activities of research and development of generic drugs are discouraged: the patent lasts twenty years, and after the time the market is in the hands of those who have long occupied monopolistic
* local technological and industrial growth is not sustained, because the patentee is not obliged to produce the medicines locally.
to the TRIPS Agreement was followed by prospects of further deterioration, called TRIPS +, with the aim of protecting
* new uses of the drug
* extend the term of the patent;
* restrict government use licenses;
* making unlawful use of compulsory licenses
3) The process in South Africa
39 pharmaceutical multinational companies have taken legal action in 1998 against the South African government to block the Medical Act (Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act), a law signed by President Nelson Mandela in 1997 that allowed
* parallel imports, compulsory licensing
* , *
local production of generic drugs.
aim was to encourage greater accessibility of medicines to cope with the dramatic spread of AIDS in South Africa where
* There are more than 4 million patients,
* 1997 to 2000 400,000 people died of AIDS.
The Medical Act, which aimed to provide medicines at affordable respecting international agreements on intellectual property (TRIPS), touching the interests of manufacturers of patented drugs.
In support of the battle of the South African government for the right to health and against economic speculation have moved
* the Dutch government,
* Glennys Kinnock, Member of British Parliament,
* a coalition of nongovernmental organizations (MSF , Oxfam, Treatment Action Campaign), *
activists from different continents (Africa, Europe, North America and South).
The supporting action resulted in: *
participation in the process, with the pleadings and documents;
* pressure on pharmaceutical companies;
* pressure on governments;
* raising public awareness;
* organizing protests.
In particular, MSF launched an international petition via the Internet (Give up the cause!) Which was signed by 285,000 people.
In Italy, April 18, 2001 (the day when you reopen the process) MSF Italy, Legambiente, Lila, have organized a demonstration outside the Rome headquarters of Farmindustria to deter pharmaceutical companies from pursuing legal action.
On 19 April, pushed by international pressure, the 39 multinational companies have abandoned the cause. This event will fundamentally alter the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and developing countries.
4) Doha Declaration
Full text of the Doha Declaration on "TRIPS and Public Health, signed November 14, 2001 by all 144 WTO member countries.
1. Recognize the gravity of public health problems afflicting many developing countries, especially those caused by HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics
2. We stress the need for the agreements adopted under the WTO on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trade related intellectual property aspect on rights - TRIPS) is part of a wider national and international action to address these problems.
3. We recognize that intellectual property protection is important for the development of new drugs. We also recognize the concerns about its effects on prices.
4. We agree that the TRIPS Agreement does not preclude and should not prevent member countries to take measures to protect public health. Accordingly, while reiterating our adherence to the TRIPs, we say that Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented to support the right of member countries to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all. In this contesto riaffermiamo il diritto dei Paesi membri dell'Omc di utilizzare a pieno tutte le misure inserite nell'accordo TRIP che prevedono forme di flessibilità a questo scopo.
5. Alla luce di quanto affermato nel precedente paragrafo 4, confermando la nostra adesione all'Accordo TRIP, riconosciamo che queste forme di flessibilità includono:
a) In applicazione delle consuete regole di interpretazione del diritto pubblico internazionale, ogni norma dell'accordo TRIP dovrà essere letta alla luce dell'oggetto dell'accordo, così come espresso, in particolare, dai suoi "obiettivi" e "principi" (1).
b) Ogni Stato membro ha il diritto di concedere licenze obbligatorie e la libertà di determinare le basi sui cui queste licenze sono concesse.
c) Ogni Stato membro ha il diritto di determinare che cosa rappresenta un'emergenza nazionale o altre circostanze di estrema urgenza, fermo restando che le crisi di salute pubblica, incluse quelle legate a HIV/AIDS, tubercolosi, malaria e altre epidemie possono rappresentare un'emergenza nazionale o altre circostanze di estrema urgenza.
d) L'effetto delle norme contenute nell'accordo TRIP relative alla scadenza dei diritti di proprietà intellettuale è di lasciare ogni Paese membro libero di stabilire il suo proprio regime di scadenze, senza controversie.6) Riconosciamo che i Paesi membri dell'Omc che non dispongono (o dispongono in modo insufficiente) di capacità manifatturiere in the pharmaceutical sector could face difficulties in using effectively the compulsory licensing under the TRIPS Agreement. We instruct the TRIPS Council to find a quick solution to this problem and to report to the General Council before the end of 2002.
(1) The "targets" and "principles" of the TRIPS Agreement referred to are those contained in Articles. 7 and 8, which states that the protection of intellectual property should contribute to technological innovation, transfer and diffusion of technology in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare.
5) The situation
People
* Fifteen million people die each year due to infectious diseases. 97% of deaths occurring in developing countries. Most of these deaths are preventable deaths.
* Pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria, diarrhea and HIV / AIDS are infectious diseases responsible for half of all deaths. AIDS is the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan African countries.
According to WHO (World Health Report 2004), these are the mortality figures for the major infectious diseases: respiratory infections or
: 4 million deaths;
or AIDS / HIV: 2.8 million;
or diarrhea: 1.8 million;
or tuberculosis 1.6 million, or
malaria: 1.3 million;
or preventable childhood diseases: 1.1 million, or meningitis
: 173,000;
or leishmaniasis: 51,000
or trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness): 48,000.
* The maternal deaths (related to pregnancy or childbirth) are still 510,000 per year (World Health Report 2004).
* In the Global South and countries in transition in Eastern Europe there are around two billion people lack access to appropriate treatment.
* The lowest-income countries bear the brunt of 85% of the global burden of disease, but still account for just 11% of total health expenditure (source: World Bank Development Indicators 2002-publications.worldbank.org/WDI ) * The
malattie infettive sono responsabili di più dei 2/3 dei decessi nella fascia sub-sahariana del continente africano.
* A causa della non potabilità dell'acqua che consumano, circa 2 miliardi di individui ogni anno sono colpiti da diverse malattie e conseguentemente ogni anno muoiono più di 2 milioni di donne, di uomini e di bambini (fonte: Documento conclusivo del secondo Forum Mondiale dell'Acqua-2005)
Farmaci
* Su 1.233 farmaci immessi sul mercato negli ultimi 25 anni del secolo scorso, solo 13 hanno un'indicazione specifica per le malattie tropicali (fonte : Trouiller et al., Lancet 2002, 359). La situazione resta tragicamente invariata
* Malattie considerate scomparse stanno ricomparendo and spreading in a very dangerous, because they are resistant to standard treatments (drug resistance): the drugs known not to be completely effective.
Investments and costs
* 90% of investment in research and development of new drugs is intended to cover health problems that 10% of world population (source: "10/90 Report on Health Research 2003-2004" - Global Forum for Health Research 2004)
* Only 0.2% of investment in research and development of new drugs relates pneumonia, diarrhea and tuberculosis, which cause 18% of deaths worldwide.
* The estimated costs for 2005 for the care activities, prevention and reduction of social damage from HIV / AIDS in countries with low financial resources amounted to $ 11.5 billion (source: "The Macroeconomics of HIV / AIDS", pg. 211-212, International Monetary Fund, 2004)
* The estimated costs for achieving the international targets to fight malaria amounted to 3.2 billion dollars a year, of which 36% for effective drugs and 17% for rapid tests (source: World Malaria Report 2005 " , section III, Roll Back Malaria-WHO/Unicef, 2005)
lot of data but to understand fully the situation is more than necessary on this subject I am publishing a documentary made in collaboration with Médecins sans borders, which will demonstrate even more dramatic for this situation and that is why I ask you to spread this video so that this tragedy of humanity will not remain in the oblivion of silence the press and information tool that uses this system for small daily events and huge disaster social and human sciences: if a problem does not talk about it, sooner or later the public forgets, and for those clowns (rulers) should intervene to solve this problem is solved bestiality. maintain high voice on this and all the problems that go against the fundamental human rights, but not limited to all living beings.
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