Amend Patent Act to increase flow of medicine to developing world, says senator
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
By Louisa Taylor, The Ottawa Citizen
April 1, 2009
OTTAWA — A motion to reform Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) would save lives by streamlining Canada’s system for getting low-cost medicines to developing countries, says the Liberal senator who sponsored the bill.
Senator Yoine Goldstein Tuesday tabled Bill S-232 to amend the provisions of the Patent Act that deal with the manufacture and export of drugs for humanitarian purposes. The Act was amended in 2004 to create exemptions to intellectual property rules, enabling generic drug manufacturers to produce low-cost medication to treat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries, particularly in Africa.
While HIV patients in Canada, for example, have provincial drug plans and health benefits to pay the high cost of most of their brand-name medication, those same medications cost far more than the annual income of a typical patient in the countries hardest hit by HIV.
The 2004 amendment passed with all-party support and put Canada at the forefront of the international effort to get affordable drugs into the hands of patients with life-threatening diseases. However, only one shipment of pills has ever been exported through CAMR.
Apotex, the generic pharmaceutical company that produced the drug Triavir for the government of Rwanda last fall, said at the time that it would not be using CAMR again because the legislation is too cumbersome and costly.
“The red tape that is built into the legislation inhibits people from doing it — they just don’t want to be bothered,” said Senator Goldstein. “The truth is this (reform) should have been done a long time ago. Children are dying of HIV and AIDS in Africa and other developing areas every day.”
The senator’s private member’s bill proposes what’s known as the “one-licence solution,” allowing a generic manufacturer to send multiple shipments of the same medication to a variety of countries without having to requalify for every shipment, as is currently the case. It would also make it easier for non-governmental organizations to buy and distribute generic medications under CAMR, something only governments are allowed to do at the moment.
Experts who fought for the legislation have been quietly lobbying to have it streamlined almost since it was enacted. They organized a day of action in support of essential medicines, with demonstrations scheduled for Wednesday in six cities across Canada.
On Tuesday, they were thrilled their suggestions have found a receptive audience in Senator Goldstein.
“The need is enormous, but (CAMR) just isn’t user-friendly in its current form,” said Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, in a statement.
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