Aids drug patent row heats up

2004-07-14 09:50

Bangkok - A transatlantic patent row heated up on Wednesday as Europe said America's drive for bilateral trade pacts was a "danger" that could erode a vital pact to provide cheap HIV drugs to developing nations.

The head of the European Union's delegation to the 15th International Aids Conference urged Washington to adhere to a 2001 agreement reached through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rather than pursue independent deals with developing nations.

On Tuesday, French President Jacques Chirac fired a veiled attack on the US for these bilateral agreements, which beef up protection for pharmaceutical products.

Making countries drop measures to let poor Aids-ravaged countries bypass international patent obligations, thus enabling them to buy cheap copycat "generic" drugs, would be tantamount to "blackmail," Chirac said.

He did not mention the US by name, but his target was clear, and the speech, made on behalf of Chirac by French Development Minister Xavier Darcos, was warmly received.

"The message by Chirac represented very much the message from Europe in general," Lieve Fransen, the head of human and social development in the European Commission's department of development policy and sectorial issues, said in an interview on Wednesday.

"There is a danger that the US would go into major bilateral trade agreements that don't follow the agreements that we have all made in Doha."

The 2001 Doha pact broke the grip of the pharmaceutical giants on anti-HIV drugs, and has helped drive down the cost of frontline treatments in developing countries from over $10 000 a year to a dollar a day or less.

"Big Pharma" had fought hard against the deal, describing generics makers as counterfeiters whose activities sapped the profit motive that drove innovative lab research.

- AFP