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On July 19, 2007, Rwanda notified the WTO that it intends to import generic anti-retroviral drugs under a procedure agreed upon by the WTO.
Rwanda is the first country to use this procedure, called the ‘30 August Decision', which was agreed upon nearly four years ago as a way for poor countries to import generic versions of patented medicines.
Rwanda informed the WTO that it expected, over the next two years, to import 260,000 packs of the HIV/AIDS drug Triavir, manufactured in Canada by Apotex, a major generics producer headquartered in Toronto.
As a Least Developed Country (LDC), Rwanda did not have to prove that it lacks manufacturing capacity. Under WTO rules, LDCs are not required to provide patent protection to pharmaceutical products until 2016.
The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) allows governments to issue ‘compulsory licences' -- effectively suspending patents -- to permit the generic production of essential medicines, without the consent of patent holders. It allows countries that have little pharma manufacturing capacity to import generic drugs produced under compulsory licence elsewhere.
The fact that no country has till now taken advantage of this provision is said by critics to be due to the fact that the administrative procedures set out in the deal are unnecessarily onerous.
Organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) that have been battling TRIPS patent provisions that make drugs costlier in poor countries said that even if Rwanda does import the HIV/AIDS drug from Canada, via the WTO flexibility, this alone would not be enough to instantly resolve broader concerns about the relationship between intellectual property protections and access to medicine.
The compulsory licence Canada would obtain would be “just for one country, for one product, and for a limited period,” points out Alexandra Heumber, a Brussels-based spokesperson.
July 27, 2007
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