hard
fortuamlk
Does patent protection prevent
André de Mello e Souza
Patents Price Medicines Out of Reach of the Poor
Globalization of IPR has reduced availability of generics as well.
Both logic and empirical evi- tution of patented imported anti- lectual property rights promoted by
dence suggest that patent retrovirals (ARVs) used to treat AIDS TRIPS has also undermined efforts
protection prevents access with locallyproducedgeneric equiv- by other developing countries to
to medicines in developing alents caused their price to fall 80. 9 gain access to cheap, generic ARVs.
countries. Patents are by definition percent on average. This was possi- Research conducted by Oxfam track-monopolies and, as such, increase ble only before the country began ing the price of patented ARVs in
prices, other things being equal. to grant patent protection for phar- Uganda from May 2000 to April
Abundant data demonstrate that maceutical products. However, after 2002 showed that such prices fell as
generic producers dramatically such protection began to be offered much as 97 percent after the coun-lower the cost of drugs, because in 1997, the cost of ARV therapies in try started to import generics from
they operate with lower profit mar- Brazil escalated, threatening the India. As a result, at one treatment
gins and promote competition. sustainability of the government’s center alone, the number of patients
Accordingly, in Brazil the substi- AIDS treatment program and the takingthese medicines increased by
survival of over 160,000 pa- 200 percent within a year. 1 Unfortu-tients. Since then, the afford- nately, like Brazil, Uganda will face
ability of these therapies has difficulties in financing anti-AIDS
depended on the capacity of therapies after changes in the Indian
the health ministry to make Patents Act begin to take effect.
credible threats of issui ng Some interested parties claim that
compulsorylicensesfor ARVs, the lack of access to medicines in
thereby forcing the patent the developing world is caused by
holders to considerably dis- poverty and insufficient health care
count these drugs. In addi- spending rather than the high cost of
tion, local generic ARV pro- medicine. Studies conductedby Amir
duction has relied on the Attaran and Lee Gillespie-White, the
importation of active ingre- Pharmaceutical Research and Man-dients from India and China. ufacturers of America (PhRMA) and
As both countries concede the pharmaceutical multinational
patent protection for new Merck, show that many of the anti-ARVs in compliance with the AIDS cocktails are not subject to pat-Agreement on Trade-Related ents in most African countries—with
Aspects of Intellectual Prop- the notable exception of South Af-erty Rights ( TRIPS), these in- rica—and could thus be readily used
gredients may no longer be by these countries. The studies also
available. point out that lower prices in ARV
The globalization of intel- (COn TInUeD On PAGe 24)
