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Pretoria - Pharmaceutical companies exploit simple loopholes in regulation to keep their drugs in patent for decades longer than need be, activists say – and they fear Big Pharma will continue to make hay unless the new National Intellectual Property Act (IP Act) enters into force soon.
The activists from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), SECTION27 and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) marched on the offices of the Department of Trade and Industry on Tuesday in Pretoria and on Thursday in Cape Town, demanding that the new law, which has been in the making for more than six years, be brought before parliament in April, so it can be dealt with before the May 7 election date.
The three organisations claim that pharmaceutical companies march through a gap in the law in order to keep medicines in patent – and be able to continue charging a price suitable to drugs fresh out of research and development. Normally, when a drug leaves the patent period, the price drops as competitors are able to start making it.
Instead, the companies tweak the drug, changing it very slightly and insignificantly – but since the applications for a new patent are not critically examined to ensure that they really are innovations, these tweaks slip by. Additional patent periods of 20 years may be granted to a drug which has already been in patent for decades – to the benefit of the pharmaceutical company’s bottom line, the organisations claim.
“To combat growing epidemics such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, diabetes and cancer – where a single drug can cost several hundred thousand rand to treat just one patient – the laws on our books need to facilitate access to lower-cost generics.
"Right now, insulin to treat diabetes, breast cancer treatment, oral contraceptives, and other vital drugs can cost more in South Africa than in India, China, Japan, and sometimes, even the US or Europe. When medicines are unaffordable, people pay with their lives,” explains Julia Hill of MSF.
In January of this year, articles in the local press revealed a campaign by international companies, using a Washington-based PR company – to stymie the proposed IP law.
Michael Azrak, Southern and East African MD of major pharma company MSD wrote in a January 10 email, leaked a week later, that the “overall campaign is aimed at delaying the finalisation of the IP policy by the Cabinet until after the 2014 election,” and adds that the delay “will provide time to develop a third stage of the campaign: establishing a strong, comprehensive IP policy ...”
The leaked information caused outrage among local activists. The marches this week rode on the wings of that outrage, demanding that Minister Rob Davies act to realise the constitutional right to access to healthcare, and that other ministers support him in this.
“We urge the DTI not to bow to industry pressure to delay, or weaken the National IP Policy. We also demand that Minister (Derek) Hanekom support the DTI in the same way as the Minister of Health does, to guarantee the final policy can be successfully implemented,” says Mark Heywood of SECTION27.
The activists from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), SECTION27 and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) marched on the offices of the Department of Trade and Industry on Tuesday in Pretoria and on Thursday in Cape Town, demanding that the new law, which has been in the making for more than six years, be brought before parliament in April, so it can be dealt with before the May 7 election date.
The three organisations claim that pharmaceutical companies march through a gap in the law in order to keep medicines in patent – and be able to continue charging a price suitable to drugs fresh out of research and development. Normally, when a drug leaves the patent period, the price drops as competitors are able to start making it.
Instead, the companies tweak the drug, changing it very slightly and insignificantly – but since the applications for a new patent are not critically examined to ensure that they really are innovations, these tweaks slip by. Additional patent periods of 20 years may be granted to a drug which has already been in patent for decades – to the benefit of the pharmaceutical company’s bottom line, the organisations claim.
“To combat growing epidemics such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, diabetes and cancer – where a single drug can cost several hundred thousand rand to treat just one patient – the laws on our books need to facilitate access to lower-cost generics.
"Right now, insulin to treat diabetes, breast cancer treatment, oral contraceptives, and other vital drugs can cost more in South Africa than in India, China, Japan, and sometimes, even the US or Europe. When medicines are unaffordable, people pay with their lives,” explains Julia Hill of MSF.
In January of this year, articles in the local press revealed a campaign by international companies, using a Washington-based PR company – to stymie the proposed IP law.
Michael Azrak, Southern and East African MD of major pharma company MSD wrote in a January 10 email, leaked a week later, that the “overall campaign is aimed at delaying the finalisation of the IP policy by the Cabinet until after the 2014 election,” and adds that the delay “will provide time to develop a third stage of the campaign: establishing a strong, comprehensive IP policy ...”
The leaked information caused outrage among local activists. The marches this week rode on the wings of that outrage, demanding that Minister Rob Davies act to realise the constitutional right to access to healthcare, and that other ministers support him in this.
“We urge the DTI not to bow to industry pressure to delay, or weaken the National IP Policy. We also demand that Minister (Derek) Hanekom support the DTI in the same way as the Minister of Health does, to guarantee the final policy can be successfully implemented,” says Mark Heywood of SECTION27.
