Kenya Bill Will Ease Aids Drugs Access

The Kenyan Parliament yesterday passed the Industrial Properties Bill 2001 to allow the country to import and manufacture cheap medicines. Lawmakers voted unanimously to approve the bill, effectively loosening the hold of major international pharmaceutical firms on patent rights for a variety of medicines, including antiretroviral AIDS drugs. The bill still must go before Parliament for a third reading, at which time minor amendments can be made, and then it must be approved by the president.

AIDS advocates say the bill will allow more of the 2.2 million HIV-infected people in the nation of 29 million to gain access to AIDS drugs. But it will take some time before the cheaper medicines can be imported in bulk. Under the bill, Kenya will give pharmaceutical firms six months' notice if it wishes to license other companies to import or produce generic drugs for which other companies hold patent rights. The pharmaceutical industry has expressed concern that the bill could cause a domino effect across the rest of Africa, cutting the profits the industry says are essential for research into new medicines.

Kenya is only the second African country to pass such a bill. A similar law in South Africa prompted a court challenge by drug manufacturers, but they dropped the case immediately after it began.

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