India deal could kill health lifeline
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS - Life-saving medicines could become too costly for the world's poor
after a new trade agreement between the European Union and India comes into
effect, public health activists have warned.
Brussels officials are seeking that robust rules on intellectual property be
approved by India when talks aimed at finalizing a free-trade deal get under
way this week.
At least three of the provisions in a leaked version of the agreement have been
identified as a potential risk to India's status as the leading manufacturer
and exporter of non-branded medicines.
One of these clauses would introduce a so-called "data exclusivity" regime,
whereby an Indian company making generic
drugs - copies or near-copies of patented products - would be prohibited from
availing itself of formulae used to develop a patented medicine for a period of
five to nine years.
Another would extend the length of patents applying in India beyond a standard
duration of 20 years to include the extra time - frequently measured in years -
that it takes a regulatory office to examine a patent application. And a third
clause would introduce controversial "border protection" measures, under which
generic medicines have been seized at European ports, into Indian law.
Michelle Childs, a campaigner with Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans
Frontieres, said millions of lives are at stake in the trade talks because
India is the source of 80% of drugs used by her organization in its
humanitarian aid work.
Until 2005, India did not issue patents for medicines. Its exemption from
intellectual property regulations applying in wealthier countries enabled
India's makers of non-branded drugs to drive down the price of the most
commonly-used treatments for AIDS from US$10,000 per patient in 2000 to less
than $80 per patient a decade later.
Childs was especially scathing of the EU's demands that border protection
should be brought within the agreement's scope. During 2008 and last year 18
shipments of generic medicines from India to other countries were impounded
while in transit in Europe, reportedly after large corporations alleged that
their patents had been violated. The Dutch customs authorities, for example,
seized 49 kilograms of abacavir sulfate, an AIDS medicine, while it was being
transported by air via Europe from India to Nigeria where it was due for use in
a project run by the Clinton Foundation, a charitable initiative of former US
president Bill Clinton.
Following these seizures, the European Commission announced that it would
re-examine the effectiveness of customs rules dating from 2003.
According to officials, they are supposed to thwart the trade in counterfeit
goods, not that involving bona fide generic medicines. Childs argues that the
EU should not be pushing India to adopt similar rules, at a time when the
review of the EU's own measures has still not been completed.
"The reality is that the provisions which the EU is seeking to insert in the
free-trade agreement have already been shown to affect generic medicines," she
told Inter Press Service. "It is irresponsible at best - and at worst, this
will have negative effects - to try and export what we know are flawed
provisions."
John Clancy, the European Commission's trade spokesman, claimed that the use of
the customs regulations to block transport of generic medicines is "rare" and
that his colleagues are seeking to resolve the surrounding issues.
"The commission is 100% behind efforts to ensure access to medicines that are
very important in saving lives of poor people in poor countries," he said.
"Nothing in this agreement will limit the flexibility of India in producing for
export medicines that are essential in saving lives. "
But an Indian man diagnosed as HIV positive in 1997 said that the EU is
"undermining our right to life".
"They are interfering with our immune system," Loon Gangte, president of the
Delhi Network of Positive People, said. "They have said many times that access
to medicines will not be hampered. But the leaked text has all the provisions
they need to take away our medicines. "
Both the EU and India have signaled that they wish to have a trade agreement
wrapped up ahead of a summit between the two sides slated for October.
BusinessEurope, a grouping for Europe's largest corporations, has identified
India as one of the most attractive markets for selling their wares and for
investing.
Dave Tucker from War on Want, a London-based anti-poverty group, complained
that multinational companies are pushing for a trade agreement that would
prevent India from restricting public works contracts to Indian firms. Public
procurement has traditionally been used to help poorer economies develop
without outside interference, but European companies want to deny India the
possibility to do so, he said.
Indian entrepreneurs would also struggle to compete with European imports once
tariffs levied on these goods are removed as part of the agreement's
implementation.
"It will be a disaster for India's manufacturing sector, which needs
protection, he said. "Protection shouldn't be a dirty word. It has proven to be
a vital part of development strategies - including for ourselves, in the past.
"
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