New briefing : Counterfeit Medicines
Read our new briefing which analyses the issues surrounding the trade in counterfeit medicines and how these issues can block access to life-saving, affordable, generic medicines:
Counterfeit briefing (335.81 kB)
Intellectual property and health
In many developing countries government budgets for medicines are less than $5 per person per year.
Adequate and sustainable funding for medicines remains a remote prospect for almost half of the world’s population.
Governments and people living in poverty are at the mercy of the pricing policies of drug manufacturers and today, powerful pharmaceutical companies are pushing for stronger patent protection for their drugs. This enables them to keep prices higher around the world, with devastating consequences for the poor.
The growth of patents
Back in 1986, more than 50 countries did not have patents on pharmaceutical products at all. Drug companies in these countries used to be free to make generic versions of patented drugs because pharmaceutical products were not patentable under national law. But with pressure from US and EU pharmaceutical companies, countries have been under more and more pressure to agree to patent laws. Branded medicines can cost ten times more than generic drugs.
What about Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)?
One of the most infamous agreements on intellectual property is the Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (known as TRIPS). Agreed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1994, this trade deal forced all but the very poorest of the member countries to accept a US-style approach to intellectual property rights, introducing 20-year patents for medicines.
The agreement includes flexibilities to protect public health, which would allow the import or production of cheaper generic drugs. However, many of the countries that most need access to cheaper drugs have been too scared to use the measures because of threats of sanctions or other reprisals.
India, Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil and Kenya are still producing generic drugs, despite pressure from US and EU pharmaceuticals. This has been a lifeline for many who need access to cheap drugs such as antiretrovirals for HIV. In Kenya, strong campaigning has helped to shore up the position of the government, despite heavy international pressure to toe the line on patents.
Even tighter rules on intellectual property have been aggressively pushed forward in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) though TRIPS-plus standards. The worst offenders are the EU and US who often call for TRIPS-plus standards within their FTAs with developing countries. Essentially TRIPS-plus standards erode developing countries ability to use the TRIPS flexibilities and can extend patent terms. They are designed to protect the interests of major US and EU pharmaceutical companies (who have high levels of political influence) by blocking competition from cheaper generic medicines, thereby maintaining their monopoly over the market and protecting their profits. These measures prioritise profits over the health of the poorest around the world.
The TRIPS agreement has also made it possible for companies to patent the traditional knowledge and local genetic resources of marginalised and indigenous communities, including their plants and medicines. Companies have been able to claim private property rights on plants, processes and knowledge developed by generations of traditional healers and farmers, often over centuries.
Health Poverty Action says:
- Wealthy governments should support the set up of ‘patent pools’ as a way to give developing countries access to more affordable drugs and pharmaceutical companies a fair return on investment.
- Wealthy and powerful countries such as the US and EU states must make clear they will support the right of developing countries to use the flexibilities within the TRIPS agreement to source affordable drugs for health emergencies.
- International rules are needed to make sure that communities give informed consent for the use of their traditional knowledge, and share in the benefits when their knowledge is used for profit.
Learn more about intellectual property and patents.
Last modified: 22/02/2011
