Patents Said Not to Cut AIDS Drug Access

A study on Africa in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Vol. 286, No. 15, October 17, 2001) cites a lack of global aid as the primary impediment to drug access for individuals with AIDS there. A review of company information on patents for 15 antiretroviral drugs in sub-Saharan Africa found that only 21 percent of possible patents existed for these drugs, making patents a minor cause of the lack of drug treatment in Africa.

The report, written by Harvard's Amir Attaran and Lee Gillespie-White of the International Intellectual Property Institute, a Washington think tank, has been long awaited by the AIDS activist community. "If you know what's going on in . . . Africa, it's really an offensive piece . . . that is attacking the interests of the most powerless people on earth now," said James Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, a Washington advocacy group.

Love countered the report by saying that patents completely block drug access in South Africa, one of a handful of countries in sub-Saharan Africa that could afford to buy substantial quantities of the drugs. He also contended that Glaxo SmithKline has patented many of its popular combination AIDS drugs in much of the continent.

Attaran said in an interview that the report should speak for itself. He and Gillespie-White found that in countries that have high numbers of people infected with AIDS and no patented drugs -- Angola, Namibia, and Ethiopia, to name three -- extraordinarily low numbers of people were being treated. The UN estimates that one in 1,000 Africans infected with AIDS are now receiving treatment.

Removing patents as the culprit of the lack of access to AIDS drugs in Africa serves the pharmaceutical industry's momentum to strengthen patents laws on medicine for developing countries, according to Love and others. They contend that the article will be used by the industry at the World Trade Conference meeting next month in Doha, Qatar.

Richard Laing, a professor of international health at Boston University, said yesterday that as long as Glaxo SmithKline blocks access to drugs in sub-Saharan Africa, "there's not going to be an effective product." He also pointed out that the list of drugs that are not patented presented in the article offers an opportunity for national licensing boards to approve generic copies for import. While Laing agreed with the report's conclusion on the importance of financial aid to developing countries to fight AIDS, he thought that Attaran and Gillespie-White "made a mistake of overstating their case" that patents were not an obstacle to treatment.

But Jeffrey P. Kemprecos, a Merck spokesperson, thought the report was clear. "It's all a financing issue," he said. "Even if the drugs for HIV/AIDS cost 50 cents a day, how could most people in Africa afford more than 20 to 40 days worth of drugs?"

Back to other CDC news for October 17, 2001

Previous Updates