The Canadian Senate has passed a bill that will allow generic drug manufacturers in Canada to produce copies of patented treatments for HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and export them to resource-limited countries.
The Jean Chretien Pledge to Africa Act, named after Canada’s outgoing prime minister, was drafted last year following a challenge to his home country by UN Special Envoy Stephen Lewis.
Lewis called on Canada to take the lead in lowering the cost of medications after nations reached agreement at the World Trade Organisation talks in Mexico on August 30th 2003 on a deal that would permit developing world countries to import cheaper generic copies of branded medicines to deal with public health emergencies.
The WTO decision allows developed countries, such as Canada, to authorise someone other than the patent holder to manufacture a lower-cost version of a patented medicine in order to export it to a developing country that has insufficient or no pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity.
The Pledge to Africa Act will allow Canadian generic manufacturers to obtain licenses for patented products and export them to countries lacking their own manufacturing capacity. However, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network said that the bill does not make it clear whether companies will be able to manufacture three-drug fixed-dose combinations of existing drugs.
The bill also restricts the export of medicines to a list of 57 named products and does not include medicines for diseases such as diabetes.
“Canada is very proud to be the first country to take concrete action to
implement this important decision, which will go a long way toward improving
global health,” said the Honourable Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“We encourage other countries to follow suit by taking steps to address the
public health problems facing developing countries.”
“We are showing our WTO partners that a novel WTO decision can
effectively be implemented,” said the Honourable Jim Peterson, Minister of
International Trade. “We remain dedicated to ensuring that the multilateral
trading system works to improve the lives of people in developing countries,
who need it most.”
The legislation is part of a strong Canadian response to the need for HIV treatment in developing countries. This week the Canadian government also gave US$72 million to the World Health Organisation to support the 3 x 5 target of 3 million on antiretroviral therapy by the end of 2005, and announced an additional CA$70 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2005.
Further information
Canada doubles WHO's 3x5 funds with £41m pledge - news story, May 11 2004
Canada to use compulsory licensing to produce HIV drugs for developing world - news story, September 29 2003