Over 100 health, faith-based, consumer, development, labor and fair trade organizations have urged U.S. senators and representatives to co-sponsor S. Res 241 and H. Res 525. In a letter, the groups urged support for the resolutions, which call on the United States to reaffirm its commitment to the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health to promote both access to medicines in developing countries, and the innovation of new medical technologies.
The resolutions were introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Representative Tom Allen of Maine.
Organizations endorsing the letter include The American Medical Student Association, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Essential Action, Global AIDS Alliance, Health GAP, Knowledge Ecology International, Oxfam America, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, The Student Global AIDS Campaign, The United Methodist Church, United Steelworkers, and U.S. PIRG.
The letter emphasizes the importance of access to medicines issues for treating people with HIV/AIDS and maintaining the U.S. global AIDS program. "In developing countries, the price of medicines is often a life-and-death matter," says the letter. "For example, generic competition for the older first-generation AIDS drugs has reduced their price in developing countries by more than 98 percent, which was critical to the massive scale-up in AIDS treatment seen over the past five years. However, most newer, second-generation treatments are under patent and current treatment levels (including people receiving treatment through PEPFAR funding) will not be sustainable unless much cheaper generic versions become available."
“The United States should support efforts to promote access to medicines in developing countries rather than extending Big Pharma’s monopoly protections," says Robert Weissman, director of Essential Action. "Unfortunately, the U.S. government has too frequently prioritized Big Pharma's narrow commercial concerns over public health interests, most notably in the case of Thailand." In the past year, Thailand has authorized the use of generic versions of three important medicines for HIV/AIDS and heart disease, but has faced significant pressure and the threat of trade sanctions from the United States and others.
“Access to medicines and the innovation of new drugs should be complementary, not mutually exclusive, objectives. The United States should embrace efforts to move beyond the access-innovation trade-off by exploring new models of healthcare R&D that support innovation by means other than monopoly pricing of drugs,” says Weissman.
S. Res 241 and H. Res 525 call on the administration to respect commitments made in the 2001 World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, and not pressure countries that exercise the flexibilities guaranteed in the Doha Declaration (including the right to issue compulsory licenses -- authorizations of generic competition for products that remain on patent). The resolutions urge as well that the United States not seek
intellectual property provisions in bilateral and regional trade agreements that are more stringent than measures contained in the WTO's intellectual property agreement (TRIPS). The resolutions also urge that the United States support new global norms for promoting medical research and development that would address a needs-driven health agenda; the intent is to develop approaches to support R&D that do not rely on charging sick people exorbitant prices for medicines.
The letter is available below and with additional information on the resolution at
www.essentialaction.org/access/index.php?/categories/14-Resolution-Affirming the-Doha-Declaration. (More information)
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