Pressure groups on Tuesday demanded that the WTO simplify the rules under which governments can import and producers export generic copies of drugs under patent, to tackle fears of a flu pandemic.
The groups, including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), argue that easing the rules would encourage more producers to manufacture generic drugs under so-called compulsory licensing. Urgently needed drugs would become more widely available should the bird-flu virus change so that it can pass easily between humans.
The campaigners cite Tamiflu, which is produced by Switzerland's Roche Holding AG and is considered the only drug likely to be effective in an outbreak of the bird flu disease in humans. Governments have been scrambling to stockpile the drug in case of a pandemic.
"Tamiflu illustrates the danger of patent monopolies -- you have a shortage of a drug and don't have an easy remedy for a disease. This is exactly the situation when countries would have to use compulsory licenses for import and export," said Ellen 't Hoen, who directs the campaign for access to essential medicines at MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders.
She said WTO rules were "not sufficient and robust enough to deal with public health crises."
Under WTO rules, countries can issue compulsory licenses to disregard patent rights but only after negotiating with the patent owners and paying them adequate compensation. If they declare a public health emergency, governments can skip the negotiating.
Initially the production of such generic drugs was strictly limited to domestic use. But in a decision in August 2003, the WTO for the first time allowed generic drugs under compulsory licenses to be exported, albeit under very strict conditions.
Although the decision was a response to poor countries' growing need for cheap generic drugs to tackle epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, critics now say that the complicated procedure to export such drugs has put off generic manufacturers.
"The rich countries congratulate themselves ... but in reality it does not bear fruit. In reality it removes the economic incentive for generic production," 't Hoen said.
Another issue is that many rich countries, including the US and the EU, opted out of the 2003 decision, meaning they would be unable to import generic drugs made under compulsory license even if they wanted to build up stocks against a disease outbreak, such as a flu pandemic.
Consumers International demands that countries that opted out be allowed to opt back in.
India has already said that it would consider using compulsory licensing to allow its drugmakers to copy Tamiflu.
Indian drugmaker Cipla Ltd -- which says it has developed a generic version of Tamiflu -- has applied to Roche for permission to copy the flu drug, but has pushed the Indian government to invoke compulsory licensing anyway.
A Taiwanese official said the country had no plans to begin manufacture of the Tamiflu because it has not yet received permission from Roche, even though many Taiwanese scientists are reportedly already able to produce Tamiflu copies in the laboratory.
Roche says it is considering a number of requests to make licensed versions, but did not elaborate.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary