WHO backs use of compulsory licensing
By, Pennapa Hongthong, The Nation, May 25, 2007
The annual meeting of all 193 member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) ended yesterday in Geneva with a resolution to endorse the use of compulsory licensing to increase access to medicines.
The resolution came after a 10-hour heated debate between developed and developing countries. The resolution was welcomed by Thailand and Brazil as it was the first official WHO stance on the controversial issue since Thailand utilised the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) agreement on overriding intellectual property rights last November, followed by Brazil recently.
In its statement released yesterday, the WHO said its assembly resulted in commitments from its director-general to provide technical and policy support to countries to use compulsory licences to make existing medicines more accessible and to draw up a global strategy and plan of action on the issue.
"I am fully committed to this process and have noted your desire to move forward faster... We must make a tremendous effort. We know our incentive: the prevention of large numbers of needless deaths," said Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, in the statement.
A representative of Thailand's Public Health Ministry who attended the assembly said the resolution was very good news for Thailand.
"We have fought to the last minute to convince other countries to agree with us," said the health official, who asked not to be named.
He said Thailand and Brazil, the only two countries to issue compulsory licences to manufacture cheap generic versions of expensive drugs, played crucial roles in the debate to support the resolution, while the United States led the opposition. The US, he said, was the only country to voice its dissent on the resolution and was angered when its words were not heeded by other countries.
He said the Public Health Ministry would officially announce the good news to Thais today.
The WHO's resolution came just three days after Thailand failed to clarify the use of compulsory licensing to the US government. The US commerce secretary took an aggressive stance and acted like a representative of US drug firms in demanding the cancellation of compulsory licences when Thai Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla met him on Monday in Washington.
Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul, a campaigner from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Belgium in Thailand, said the resolution was a great success for developing countries in their battle to get access to medicines.
"The fundamental problems of high drug prices caused by the reliance on patents for research and development on drugs should be explored as a next step," she said.
Kannikar claimed that the assembly also adopted a resolution to explore R&D incentive mechanisms and to address the link between R&D costs and the price of medicines, vaccines and diagnostic kits.
Besides agreements on public health, innovation and intellectual property rights, the WHO's member states also reached resolutions on pandemic influenza preparedness and access to vaccines and other benefits that would be shared among the members.
Chan, head of the WHO, said the sharing would flow from improved international cooperation and preparation.
The resolution requires the WHO to establish an international stockpile of vaccines for H5N1 bird-flu and other influenza viruses of pandemic potential and to formulate mechanisms and guidelines aimed at ensuring fair and equitable distribution of vaccines at affordable prices.
The annual meeting of all 193 member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) ended yesterday in Geneva with a resolution to endorse the use of compulsory licensing to increase access to medicines.
The resolution came after a 10-hour heated debate between developed and developing countries. The resolution was welcomed by Thailand and Brazil as it was the first official WHO stance on the controversial issue since Thailand utilised the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) agreement on overriding intellectual property rights last November, followed by Brazil recently.
In its statement released yesterday, the WHO said its assembly resulted in commitments from its director-general to provide technical and policy support to countries to use compulsory licences to make existing medicines more accessible and to draw up a global strategy and plan of action on the issue.
"I am fully committed to this process and have noted your desire to move forward faster... We must make a tremendous effort. We know our incentive: the prevention of large numbers of needless deaths," said Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, in the statement.
A representative of Thailand's Public Health Ministry who attended the assembly said the resolution was very good news for Thailand.
"We have fought to the last minute to convince other countries to agree with us," said the health official, who asked not to be named.
He said Thailand and Brazil, the only two countries to issue compulsory licences to manufacture cheap generic versions of expensive drugs, played crucial roles in the debate to support the resolution, while the United States led the opposition. The US, he said, was the only country to voice its dissent on the resolution and was angered when its words were not heeded by other countries.
He said the Public Health Ministry would officially announce the good news to Thais today.
The WHO's resolution came just three days after Thailand failed to clarify the use of compulsory licensing to the US government. The US commerce secretary took an aggressive stance and acted like a representative of US drug firms in demanding the cancellation of compulsory licences when Thai Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla met him on Monday in Washington.
Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul, a campaigner from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Belgium in Thailand, said the resolution was a great success for developing countries in their battle to get access to medicines.
"The fundamental problems of high drug prices caused by the reliance on patents for research and development on drugs should be explored as a next step," she said.
Kannikar claimed that the assembly also adopted a resolution to explore R&D incentive mechanisms and to address the link between R&D costs and the price of medicines, vaccines and diagnostic kits.
Besides agreements on public health, innovation and intellectual property rights, the WHO's member states also reached resolutions on pandemic influenza preparedness and access to vaccines and other benefits that would be shared among the members.
Chan, head of the WHO, said the sharing would flow from improved international cooperation and preparation.
The resolution requires the WHO to establish an international stockpile of vaccines for H5N1 bird-flu and other influenza viruses of pandemic potential and to formulate mechanisms and guidelines aimed at ensuring fair and equitable distribution of vaccines at affordable prices.
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