Canada to supply cheaper anti-AIDS drugs

It would still be a "a good few months" before HIV-positive people in developing countries could benefit from Canada's move to introduce legislation allowing its drug manufacturers to export cheaper anti-AIDS drugs to poor countries, activists told PlusNews. Nevertheless, the introduction of the bill in parliament on Thursday was a "significant first step", which should be welcomed, director of policy and research at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Richard Elliot, told PlusNews. The Canadian government announced this week that it would present legislation to change the country's patent laws - including drug laws - to permit exports of lower-cost generic medicines to developing countries. This would make Canada the first industrialised country with laws that made available cheaper generic treatment, including antiretroviral medication, to the areas hardest-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Elliot noted. Although the bill would be unveiled in parliament this week, it was not likely to be passed anytime soon. The House of Commons was expected to adjourn on Friday until there had been a change in the ruling party's leadership. "But the Prime Minister has indicated his support of the legislation and, hopefully, it will be passed as soon as parliament resumes," he said. South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign, which has been lobbying the government to introduce a national HIV/AIDS treatment programme, welcomed Canada's plans in a joint statement with the AIDS Law Project. "We strongly believe that if properly implemented, this brave step will make a significant contribution towards ensuring a sustainable supply of affordable essential medicines in the developing world," said the statement, which was released last month. The symbolic significance of Canada's decision could not be ignored, Jonathan Berger of the Law and Treatment Access Unit at the AIDS Law Project pointed out. As a member of the G7, Canada was the first country to provide generic versions of drugs to help fight diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, under the August 2003 World Trade Organisation agreement that allows poorer countries to override patent laws. "But very few developing countries have moved to implement this. We don't know whether this is [because] of fear of trade sanctions ... but the bottom line is that they haven't acted," Berger said. Although it was still difficult to predict the long-term effects of the legislation, he commented, its main short-term impact would be the impetus it would create among other industrialised countries to change their existing patent laws. Both Elliot and Berger agreed that the Canadian legislation still had to address some "potential stumbling blocks". According to the bill, every time a generic manufacturing firm signed an agreement with a developing country, the brand-name companies would be given an opportunity to satisfy the demand in that country and take over the contract. "The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is calling on the government to change this clause, which could block generic drug companies from following through contracts made with [poor] countries. "They will be shooting themselves with this clause. We are fully supporting the initiative, but they need to do it properly. If they introduce the provision, the whole thing will be rendered useless," Elliot said. Despite these shortcomings, the eventual passing of the bill would be a step towards reaching "the ultimate objective - getting medicines to the worst-affected people at the lowest cost possible," he added.