Access to antiretrovirals undermined by patent agreements

A new report from the London-based Panos Institute says that a third of the world's population still has no access to essential HIV/AIDS drugs.

With the global agreement on intellectual property rights (TRIPS) forcing countries to introduce new patent protection laws over the next decade, the situation could worsen, the report said.

The Panos report titled 'Patents, Pills and Public Health: can TRIPS deliver?' warns that patent legislation is not being debated widely enough in most developing countries, and the process of introducing it needs to be more consultative and transparent.

In Uganda, for example, American consultants were brought in to review the country's patent laws and make proposals for reform. The result was the drafting of laws which, according to local campaigners, are skewed in favour of business interests rather than social or development needs.

"This report should be a wake-up call to developing countries to look carefully at how they go about complying with TRIPS legislation and make sure that access to essential drugs is kept as an overriding right for the entire population – not just a wealthy few," said Martin Foreman, the author of the Panos report.

View the report at:
http://www.panos.org.uk/