Brazil's 'Public Interest' IP Opportunism Knows No Limits - Third Country Transit Points Now Being Used

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2327254420090123

Brazil to Object to Dutch Seizure of Generic Drug

Reuters


By Pedro Fonseca and Reese Ewing


Jan 23, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Brazil said it would file a complaint at the World Trade Organization over the seizure by Dutch authorities of a shipment of a generic high blood pressure drug made in India.

Local foreign and health ministries said a company claiming to have intellectual property rights to the arterial hypertension drug losartan in the Netherlands requested customs authorities seize a shipment of a generic version of the drug in transit from India to Brazil, two countries where the patent is not protected.

The Brazilian government can withhold intellectual property rights for a drug if it considers it "in the public interest." Its health-care system provides free drug treatment for certain conditions such as AIDS and high blood pressure.

"The Brazilian government feels that the decision by the Dutch authorities to detain the basic material critical for the public health of a developing country ... a serious step backward on the question of universal access to drugs," said the note released by the Brazilian ministries late Thursday.

[SINCE WHEN IS BRAZIL A DEVELOPING COUNTRY??? IT IS AN AGRICULTURAL & ENERGY SUPERPOWER!! AT THE VERY LEAST, IT IS AN EMERGING ECONOMY!! SORRY GUYS. THIS ARGUMENT NO LONGER WORKS!! IT'S TIME TO INVEST IN PUBLIC EDUCATION!]

The statement also said the government would take its complaint to the executive council of the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

High blood pressure is one of the leading causes of death among Brazilians.

[SO MUCH FOR PUBLIC EMERGENCY OR EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES OR ANTITRUST ACTIVITY AS AN EXCUSE FOR A 'TAKING'. NOW ALL THAT IS NECESSARY IS THAT THE BRAZILIANS WANT WHAT THE FOREIGN PATENT HOLDERS HAVE!! THIS IS WHAT THEY CALL 'PUBLIC INTEREST'!!]

The cargo of generic losartan that was seized in Rotterdam was sent back to India, where it was manufactured by Dr. Reddy's, the ministries' note said. The drug was being imported by Brazil's EMS.

[NOW, WHY WOULD THE BRAZILIAN SHIPPER USE ROTTERDAM AS A THIRD COUNTRY TRANSIT POINT BETWEEN INDIA AND BRAZIL??? AND WHY WOULD DR. REDDY'S, WHICH IS ALL-TOO FAMILIAR WITH THE LAW OF PATENTS, WANT TO DO THIS??? ARE THERE ANY TARIFF BENEFITS OR FINANCIAL PAYOFFS?? WHY WOULD THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF FRENCH AND AMERICAN PATENT HOLDERS?? DOES IT HAVE A LEGAL DUTY TO DO SO?? ARE THESE DRUGS PATENTED ALSO IN THE NETHERLANDS?? HOW DID THE PATENT HOLDERS GET WIND OF THE SHIPMENT??]

Losartan is the generic name for the drug Cozaar that was co-developed by Merck & Co and DuPont Co.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aOUxZ.aZKnbA&refer=india

Brazil Protests Seizure of Dr. Reddy’s Drugs in the Netherlands

By Joshua Goodman

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg)

Brazil protested the seizure in the Netherlands of shipments from Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., India’s second-biggest drugmaker.

Customs authorities in Rotterdam seized shipments of the generic drug Losartan, used to treat high blood pressure, while in transit to Brazil, the South American nation’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Authorities were acting on the request of an unnamed [???] company that allegedly has patent rights over the drug in the Netherlands, the foreign ministry said. Losartan can be imported freely in Brazil.

“The decision by Dutch authorities to seize a strategic supply for the public health system of a developing country, exported according to international norms, signals a grave step backward in the universal access to medicines,” the ministry said in the statement.

[BRAZIL IS NOT A DEVELOPING COUNTRY!!]

Officials at the Netherlands embassy in Brazil weren’t immediately available to comment after normal business hours.

The Brazil foreign ministry said the seizure “raises doubts about the commitment of European countries to help people in developing countries gain access to medicines.”

[BRAZIL IS NOT A DEVELOPING COUNTRY!!]

Brazil plans to complain to the World Health Organization in Geneva and possibly to the World Trade Organization.

The drug shipment has been returned to India, the foreign ministry said.

Thai Health Activists Are Misled To Believe Their Government is 'Licensed' to Steal Private Drug Patents From Foreign Investors Pursuant To WTO Law!!

Letter to Editor from Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, concerning "Bangkok's Drug War, Round Two"


Thu, 6 Mar 2008


Dear Editor,


I am one of the 'packhounds' that you accuse of spreading scare stories in your editorial (Bangkok's Drug War, Round Two) of 27 February 2008. My organization, which consists of people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand, supports access to necessary drugs for all Thais, not just the rich minority that can pay the prices charged by pharmaceutical companies enjoying monopoly patents.


[THE THAI GOVERNMENT HAS THE LEGAL & POLITICAL RIGHT TO DEVELOP AN HIV/AIDS UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO MEDICINES PROGRAM AT ITS OWN EXPENSE. BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMAND FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM FOREIGN INVESTORS; OTHERWISE IT RISKS TRIGGERING CAPITAL FLIGHT].


Your article is sadly misinformed. What you call the 'loophole' of compulsory licensing (which is what has kept some of my friends alive) is in fact a piece of international law that was heavily negotiated and agreed by all member countries of the WTO.


[THIS IS NOT TRUE. THERE WAS NEVER A CONSENSUS ON THE SCOPE OF THE COMPULSORY LICENSING PROVISIONS WHICH HAS BEEN EXPLOITED BY FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AT THE INSISTENCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF ACADEMICIANS AND NGOS].


The Thai government did not 'seize' patents; it used the same legal right that many other countries have used, including the United States, whose threats of trade sanctions so worry the new Thai Minister of Public Health.


[WHEN HAS THE UNITED STATES ACTUALLY ISSUED A DE JURE COMPULSORY LICENSE?? PLEASE DO NOT RELY ON THE MISLEADING INFORMATION PROVIDED BY KEI'S JAMIE LOVE].


You claim that the need for access to life-saving HIV, heart disease and cancer drugs is not a clear emergency in Thailand. Cancel the free distribution of drugs made possible through compulsory licences and thousands of Thai will be dead in weeks. The emergency is clear enough to them.


[WITH THIS RATIONALE, ANY DISEASE THAT INFLICTS A SUBPORTION OF A POPULATION WILL BE DESIGNATED AS AN 'EPIDEMIC' UNDER THE EVOLVING WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION STANDARDS AND THEN DECLARED A 'HEALTH EMERGENCY' FOR PURPOSES OF TRIPS!!]


And you claim that 'the other side of the argument' is 'missing'. Given the intense lobbying of the new Minister by what you call 'Big Pharma', supported by the US government and enjoying far richer resources than my organization can muster, this is hard to swallow.


[PHARMA COMPANIES HAVE LEGAL ECONOMIC RIGHTS TO DEFEND THEIR EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE PROPERTY, AN ECONOMIC ASSET AGAINST GOVERNMENT EXPROPRIATION. WHY IS IT WRONG FOR THEM TO PROTECT THEIR PRIVATE INTERESTS???]


It took my organization and our allies (in the government, the media, and academia, as well as in other NGOs) a long, long time to get our government to exercise its legal right to compulsory licensing.


Please do not misrepresent our case, bully our government or call us names.


Virat Purahong,
The chairperson of Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+)
494 Soi Nakornthai 11
Ladproa 101 Road,
Klongjan, Bangkapi
Bangkok, Thailand 10240
Tel (66)2377-5065 Fax (66) 2377-9719
E-mail : tnpth@thaiplus.net

In the Thais' Eyes, Drug Patent Holders Must Fund Governments' Political Healthcare Promises

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/03/asia/AS-GEN-Thailand-Drug-Patents.php


Head of Thailand's Food and Drug Administration resigns after one week


The Associated Press


Monday, March 3, 2008


BANGKOK, Thailand: The recently appointed head of Thailand's Food and Drug Administration resigned Monday amid controversy over the new government's plan to review a policy of overriding patents on several expensive cancer-fighting drugs.

Chatree Banchuen was named secretary general of the FDA last week, making him the government's chief negotiator with multinational drug companies over pricing and licensing terms.


Chatree said he decided to resign because he felt "uncomfortable with the politics," explaining that critics had brought up old, unproven allegations linking him to corruption in a computer procurement project in 2003. He called the allegations "politically motivated and groundless," without elaborating.


Chatree's predecessor, Siriwat Thiptharadon, was transferred to an inactive post last Tuesday by the new government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. Siriwat called his transfer unfair, charging it was because he supported compulsory licensing of drug patents.


Compulsory licensing is intended to make some drugs more affordable by taking away the patent holder's ability to control the drug's price, a benefit of being a drug's exclusive supplier. International trade rules allow a government to issue a compulsory license to manufacture a generic version of a drug only in case of a national public health emergency.




[APPARENTLY UNDER THAI LAW, AS CALLED FOR BY HEALTH ACTIVISTS WHO LOBBIED TO REMOVE THE NEW FDA ADMINISTRATOR, DRUG INNOVATORS THAT DARE TO EXERCISE THEIR PATENT RIGHTS IN THAILAND ARE AUTOMATICALLY DEEMED ILLEGAL MONOPOLISTS. IN OTHER WORDS, A PATENT HOLDER'S EXERCISE OF THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO SELL, DISTRIBUTE AND IMPORT A NEWLY PATENTED DRUG THAT HAS NO COMPETITOR IN THE MARKETPLACE, PROVIDES AMPLE BASIS FOR THE THAI GOVERNMENT TO DECLARE THAT A 'PUBLIC INTEREST' HAS BEEN VIOLATED. CONSEQUENTLY, THE THAI GOVERNMENT, PROMPTED BY ACTIVISTS BELIEVES IT IS PERMITTED TO 'TAKE' IT AWAY FROM THE PATENT OWNER VIA ISSUANCE OF A COMPULSORY LICENSE !!]




Siriwat was the architect of the government's policy leading to the issuing of compulsory licenses on Jan. 4 for four cancer-fighting drugs.


In the past two years, the Thai government has also issued compulsory licenses for several drugs used to treat AIDS and heart disease, drawing criticism from companies holding patents on the drugs.


The drug companies dispute whether the circumstances in Thailand qualify for such licenses.


Newly appointed Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsup said Monday the ministry will review the licensing policy on the cancer-fighting drugs, while ensuring patients have affordable access to the medicines.


[AT WHOSE COST, THAT OF THE DRUG COMPANIES?? ARE PATENT HOLDERS, AS A MATTER OF INTERNATIONAL POLICY, NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR FUNDING GOVERNMENTS' PUBLIC HEALTH CARE PROMISES??? WHY DOESN'T THE GOVERNMENT JUST TAKE OVER THE PHARMACEUTICAL BUSINESS & ELIMINATE FREE ENTERPRISE ALTOGETHER??]



He said that if negotiations fail to get drug companies to lower their prices, compulsory licensing would be maintained.


Chaiya earlier said the government planned to review the drug licensing policy because U.S. drug manufacturers might ask Washington to apply trade sanctions against Thailand.


The four drugs issued compulsory licenses on Jan. 4 are Novartis' Imatinib and Letrozole, Sanofi-Aventis' Docetaxel, and Roche's Erlotinib.


Novartis AG and Roche Holding AG are Swiss, and Sanofi-Aventis SA is French.