2. WTO: TRIPS agreement
Minimum universal standards for copyrights, patents and trade marks
20 year patent protection for medicines
Criteria: Novelty, Inventiveness and Usefulness

3. 2001: Cut the Cost

4. WTO: Doha Declaration Affirmed countries’ right to interpret TRIPS
- to “protect public health”
- “promote access to medicines”
use public health safeguards
Public Health Safeguards include:
Patentability: what constitutes ‘new’ and ‘invention’. E.g. India’s 3(d) has a narrow definition
Compulsory licensing: override a patent by importing or producing generic versions (Thailand Kaletra
Parallel importation: import patented medicines from other countries at lower prices
Bolar provision: testing and registration of a drug prior to patent expiry to facilitate rapid introduction of generic medicines

5. 5 years later… 4 million more people infected with HIV in 2005
75% of adults and 90% children in need of HIV treatment go without
30% of world’s population still does not have access to essential medicines
Cancer rates will double by 2020 with 60% in developing countries
Diabetes has increased from 30 million to 230 million in last 20 years in developing countries

6. Oxfam: Access to Medicines
Five years after Doha, people living in poverty in developing countries continue to suffer and die because medicines are either not available or are priced out of reach.
Northern governments and pharma companies must act now to make life-saving medicines affordable for all.

8. Access to Medicines
Shared responsibility between Governments and Pharmaceutical Industry
Essential services
Intellectual property rights
Individual companies – Novartis in India

9. Patents – A Social Contract
Society grants Intellectual Property Rights
Pharmaceutical Industry provides society with Innovative and Accessible medicines

10. Current Problems
India Driven by market returns not public health needs e.g. Viagra
Expensive research
Lack of true innovation e.g. Me-Too
Neglected diseases, groups & therapies
Examples: show that stricter IP rules and higher medicine prices do not lead to more R&D for essential medicines.
Only 15% of new drug applications approved by the US Food And Drug Administration from 1989 to 2000 were identified as clinical improvements over products already on the market
: only 21 of the 1556 new chemical entities marketed were targeted at poor country diseases (malaria, bilharzia etc)
Nearly 90% of pharmaceutical sales are in North America, EU and Japan
On average 14% of Pharma revenues are spent on R&D, compared to 32% on marketing and administration

11. India – the pharmacy of the developing world 1995 India joins WTO
Novartis in India
India – the pharmacy of the developing world
1995 India joins WTO
2005 New Patent Law in line with TRIPS
India is the main supplier of essential medicines for developing countries.
67 % of India’s medicine exports go to developing countries.
50% of the essential medicines that UNICEF distributes in developing countries are Indian
Up to 70% of ARVs used by PEPFAR are generics from India, causing 90% cost saving
75-80% of all medicines distributed by the International Dispensary Association (IDA) to developing countries are manufactured in India. (IDA is a medical supplier operating on a not-for-profit basis for distribution of essential medicines to developing countries.)
In Zimbabwe, 75% of tenders for medicines for all public sector health facilities come from Indian manufacturers
The state procurement agency in Lesotho, NDSO, states it buys nearly 95% of all ARVs from India.

12. Novartis in India 1998 Glivec patent application
2003 Glivec Exclusive Marketing Rights
2005 Patent denied – not real innovation 3(d)
Novartis appeal and filed case against 3(d)
Attack on the Doha Declaration
Access to medicines under threat world wide
Tell story of Chiin and her 3month old baby demonstrating in New Delhi
Dispute over India’ right to have a narrow scope of patentability – I.e. interpret TRIPS.

13. E-mail your pension fund
Take action
E-action to Novartis
your pension fund