Participants at a symposium on access to medicines in Geneva on 16 July, jointly hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), discussed the controversial issue of intellectual property rights and access to medicines. The enforcement of these rights has kept the prices of some medicines too high for the world’s poor, said participants.

WTO Director General Margaret Chan commented: “The price has a decisive impact on access to medicines, together with the remoteness of services, lack of staff, poor procurement practices and delivery systems and the absence of health insurance schemes. But price can be an absolute barrier for the poor.”

“Up to 90 percent of the population in developing countries purchase medicines through out-of-pocket payment — it is their second highest expenditure after food”, she added.

While some mechanisms have been put in place to allow developing countries to circumvent intellectual property rights in the interests of public health, for example the amendment to the TRIPS agreement which permitted countries to issue “compulsory licences” for the production of generics without the patent owner’s consent, developing countries have often felt pressured into avoiding making use of them.

As Ms. Chan notes, “The debates are often clouded by the suspicion that medicines are being treated just like any other commodity, despite their health-promoting and life-saving roles.”

Source:

• IPS - Inter Press Service