Apr 14, 1998

 

HEALTH: CALL FOR REVIEW OF TRIPS OPTION FOR ESSENTIAL DRUGS

 

Geneva, 8 Apr (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- Member-States of the World Health Organization are to be asked to review their options under the World Trade Organization's TRIPS agreement to safeguard access of their peoples to essential drugs. 

This is one of the recommendations in a comprehensive resolution on a Revised drug strategy, coming up at the 51st session of the World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva 11-18 May. The resolution was adopted in January by the WHO Executive Board and commended to the Health Assembly.  

The draft would have the Health Assembly, urge Member Stats to reaffirm their commitment to develop, implement and monitor national drug policies to ensure equitable access to essential drugs and to ensure that "public health rather than commercial interests have primacy in pharmaceutical and health policies and to review their options under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to safeguard access to essential drugs."

The World Health Assembly at its 39th session had endorsed the WHO's revised drug strategy, calling on WHO to support governments to implement national drug policies and programmes which promote equity of access to essential drugs, rational use of drugs and drug quality.  

That essential drug policy, and its intent and content was reaffirmed by the Health Assembly at its 49th session.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the WHO was headed by Dr. Hafdan Mahler (from Denmark), the Health for All, primary health care and generic drugs policies were pushed by the WHO. But it disappeared from the WHO agenda and debates under his successor, though the governments and health ministries were equally responsible. And the pharmaceutical TNCs seemed to gain considerable influence over parts of the WHO secretariat itself.

 

As a result, and under the enormous pressures of the US and other industrial powers who were pushing TRIPS at the GATT, during the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations and its conclusion with among others the TRIPS agreement, which enhanced the global monopoly on pharmaceutical products and processes, the WHO was reticent, if not silent, on the issue of TRIPS and its effects on prices of pharmaceuticals and essential drugs.

In anticipation of the Assembly consideration of this question, and the Executive Board's recommendation on the TRIPS, this year, the US pharmaceutical industry, has been lobbying the US Government departments, including Commerce and US Trade Representative's office to oppose the resolution in regard to the recommendations on TRIPS.

The WHO director-general's progress report to the Health Assembly on the implementation of resolutions and decisions of the Health Assembly, in a note on the Revised Drug Strategy, flags a number of issues relevant to the WTO, but is silent on the TRIPS issue.  

It says "WHO has initiated work to identify issues in WTO agreements relevant to drug policies and access to essential drugs; to further collaboration with WTO; to compare WTO agreements and WTO technical requirements and guidelines for pharmaceutical and biological products; to assess the effect of "globalization" on national drug policy objectives; to advise Member States on measures to protect public health in the implementation of new trade agreements; and to make countries aware of the significance of international trade agreements for public health."

In a preambular paragraph of the resolution recommended by the Executive Board, the Assembly would "Concerned about the situation in which one-third of the world's population has no guaranteed access to essential drugs, in new world trade agreements may have a negative impact on local manufacturing capacity and the access to and prices of pharmaceuticals in developing countries, and in which poor quality pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products continue to move in international trade;"  

In operative paragraphs, the Assembly among other actions, would urge member States
"to reaffirm their commitment to develop, implement and monitor national drug policies to ensure equitable access to essential drugs;
"to ensure that public health rather than commercial interests have primacy in pharmaceutical and health policies and to review their options under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to safeguard access to essential drugs;"

Another operative paragraph would have the Assembly request the WHO Director-General, "to assist Member States to analyse the pharmaceutical and public health implications of agreements overseen by the World Trade Organization and to develop appropriate policies and regulatory measures;"

Both just before the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, and immediately thereafter, the WTO, World Bank and pharmaceutical TNCs all suggested that the TRIPS accord would promote transfer of technology, and research to produce essential drugs for the developing world.  

However, a number of independent experts, including a study done for the WHO itself by Mr. Carlos Correa, have suggested that the cost of pharmaceuticals for developing countries consumers would rise.  

An options paper, prepared by Mr. Correa and a group of consultants for the Third World Network, has suggested a number of options developing country governments could exercise, both for licensing for domestic production as well as other options available to them.  

Some health experts and public interest groups are expressing the hope that the new Director-General of the WHO, Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, when she takes over in July would take a more activist role.

Soon after she won the nomination to the post from the Executive Board in January, Mrs. Brundtland said that she wanted to use her office to put health high on the political agenda and the need to combat poverty and promote economic and social development for better health for all.