By Kevin E. Noonan --
There are new developments in global drug pricing policy today, but while they are good news for sub-Saharan Africa they fall far short of addressing the overarching disaster facing Western drug companies in these disputes (see "Worldwide Drug Pricing Regime in Chaos").
In a move kindly described as charity, The Wall Street Journal reports that Roche Holdings AG announced that it had agreed with two African generic drug companies to transfer technology related to production of the anti-AIDS drug saquinavir "free of charge." The deal also includes the right for these companies, located in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, to distribute the drug to any country in sub-Saharan Africa characterized by the United Nations as a "least developed" nation. Roche also expressed a willingness to enter similar technology transfer agreements under the same terms with other generic drug companies in such countries.
This agreement is one avenue for addressing the economic and political effects of the developing world efforts to reap the benefits of World Trade Organization membership while being able to provide needed drugs for their citizens. The crisis is particularly acute with regard to anti-AIDS drugs, and in this regard Roche has astutely chosen the countries most affected by the pandemic, and least capable of affording the drugs, to garner the benefits of its charitable largess. Its actions are also likely to blunt the effectiveness of "more" developed countries, such as Brasil, from establishing markets in such countries for their own generic drug industries. And by supporting local drug production in Africa, Roche has also began a process for building the types of development relationships that may render these countries' governments less intractable in respecting Roche's patent rights for other, less critically-needed drugs.
The downside of Roche's actions, however, is that they perpetuate the model of Western drug companies treating intellectual property rights as bargaining chips. They do not address the larger question of resolving the tensions between the once-hoped-for international IP protection regime and resistance to respecting Western drug companies' IP rights when it comes to anti-AIDS and other drugs. It is possible that deals like the ones Roche has struck with these local drug companies are the best now possible, and insofar as they lessen the pressure of rhetoric (from governments, non-governmental organizations, and even individuals like former President Clinton) to eliminate such IP rights entirely (and have the other benefits mentioned above), they are clearly a coup for Roche. But they also represent a throwback to the more paternalistic posture of the past, where less developed countries are dependent not on a regulated international system of rights and privileges but on the West's inclinations to act humanely in the face of a crisis (something whose effects can be variable, as seen most recently in Darfur). They also raise the question of whether Western drug companies, and their governments, have the political will to address the challenges raised by specific actions (like the Doha Declaration and actions taken pursuant thereto by Brasil and others) that most seriously, and systemically, challenge the reigning drug development paradigm.
For additional information regarding this and other related topics, please see:
- "U.S. Trade Policy Becoming Less Pharma-Friendly," May 18, 2007
- "The "Unfairness" of World Intellectual Property Protection According to The New Yorker," May 17, 2007
- "Worldwide Drug Pricing Regime in Chaos," May 9, 2007
- "Not Getting It about Patented Drug Prices at The Wall Street Journal," May 6, 2007
- "A Modest Proposal Regarding Drug Pricing in Developing Countries," May 2, 2007
- "The Law of Unintended Consequences Arises in Applying TRIPS to Patented Drug Protection in Developing Countries," May 1, 2007
- "Abbott Agrees to Offer AIDS Drug at Reduced Price," April 12, 2007
- "No New Abbott Medicines for Thailand," March 14, 2007
- "More Compulsory Licensing in Thailand," February 1, 2007
- "Thailand Compulsory License Still in the News," December 18, 2006
- "Thailand Issues Compulsory License for AIDS Drug," December 6, 2006
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