Campaigners attack drug companies over AIDS patents

Health campaigners have accused the pharmaceutical industry of trying to sabotage attempts by developing countries to ensure that patent rights do not prohibit access to AIDS drugs, the 'Financial Times' has reported. The report said that according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "patents in Africa have generally not been a factor in ... anti-retroviral drug treatment access". Similar research carried out by the US pharmaceutical industry association, PhRMA, showed that "patents are simply not an obstacle to access in almost every sub-Saharan African nation", the report added. The pharmaceutical industry argued that poverty and lack of infrastructure were more important barriers to access in countries. However, in a statement issued on Wednesday, five health campaign groups, including Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres, said that the data presented in the paper revealed the extent of patent barriers to treatment. Patented prices were still three times higher than generic prices, and it was critical that "the false conclusions" drawn from the data did not lead people to believe that patents were not an issue in access to life-saving medicines, the statement said. A draft declaration calling for a pro-public health interpretation of TRIPS was put forward by 60 developing countries in the September 2001 TRIPS council session on access to medicines. The declaration, signed by 41 African nations, stated that "nothing in the TRIPS agreements shall prevent members from taking measures to protect public health". If nothing changes, beginning in 2006, all WTO members will be obligated to grant twenty-year minimum patents for medicines.