Tuesday, October 30, 2001

People more important than patent laws, brand-name profits
Commentary by Braden Smith

Three Americans have died from what was diagnosed as inhalation anthrax. In comparison, 7 million people will die by 2010 unless drastic steps are taken to prevent and treat the spread of AIDS in South Africa, according to a recent report released by South Africa’s Medical Research Council.

I place the deaths of more than 190,000 South Africans a year as a side note because that is how it compares in the media to the death of three American citizens. The South African government has fought for more than five years to be able to import generic AIDS drugs rather than buying the expensive brand-name drugs from the pharmaceutical companies that have the patents. So far, the drug companies have managed to intimidate South Africa, with the help of western governments, into buying the brand names.

Yet, after the death of one person in Boca Raton, Fla., from anthrax inhalation, Health Canada, the state-run health care agency in Canada, bought more than 900,000 tablets of a generic form of Cipro, the drug of choice for fighting inhalation anthrax. After Bayer threatened to sue Health Canada for violating Canada’s patent laws, the government reached an unprecedented agreement with Bayer that let the government use the generic tablets as a stockpile in case of an emergency. Bayer would continue to sell Health Canada the drug Cipro at a reduced price.

It took almost three years of fighting the major drug manufacturers in the United States and Germany to get the price of AIDS cocktails lowered to around $1,000 per dose. The same drugs made by a generic drug manufacturer cost around $300.

South Africa does not have the financial resources to simply buy the more expensive drugs from brand-name producers. America, however, does have the resources and, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, the United States is already in the process of negotiating a deal with Bayer to buy large amounts of Cipro at a reduced price.

According to Salih Booker, the executive director of Africa Action, and William Minter, a senior research fellow at Africa Action, “The glacial pace of the international response to AIDS reflects an entrenched double standard characteristic of the apartheid system.” Recent events have only served to emphasize how entrenched this double standard truly is.

In an interview in The New York Times, Peter A. Tollman, a vice president of Boston Consulting Group, said after the anthrax attacks the pharmaceutical industry has shown a willingness to cooperate with government agencies. According to Tollman, when bioterrorism is involved, governments are likely to begin providing millions of dollars for research and development to help build defenses against future attacks — money that drug companies would love to have.

The welfare of the citizens of South Africa or the United States should always be more important than the inviolability of patent laws. Canada was correct when it decided to purchase Cipro from a generic producer. Canada’s national security depends on being able to respond to public emergencies.

So, too, does the national security of South Africa. Thus, it is only appropriate that the United States and other European countries admit that patent laws are not sacrosanct and allow South Africa to take advantage of cheap generic AIDS drugs.

To allow 7 million South Africans to die by 2010 because generic drugs are not available while simultaneously pressuring drug companies to relax the patent on Cipro because three Americans have died is disgustingly hypocritical. Drug companies need to be told that there is a limit to how much profit can be made off of the suffering of developing countries.

Braden Smith is a columnist for The Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin. This column was distributed by U-Wire.