Aid agency hits 'some amendments' to Intellectual Property Code

The international aid agency Oxfam on Wednesday cautioned that some amendments to the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines could impede the full use of public health safeguards in the law and should be removed. "We hope that when the House and the Senate settle on the final version of the law in June, it will not include amendments to the legislation that would limit Filipino's access to life-saving medicines," said Shalimar Vitan, Oxfam's coordinator for Access to Medicines Campaign in the Philippines. The group, however, commended the House of Representatives for approving amendments that could consequently lower the prices of medicine in the country. “The foreign pharmaceutical companies' desperate, last-ditch attempts to block the passage of the bill did not succeed as our congressmen upheld public health interests in passing the bill at the last day of the special sessions," The House on Tuesday evening passed on second reading House Bill 6035 or the Parallel Importation of Medicine that would amend Republic Act No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines. Iloilo Rep. Ferjinel Biron, one of the bill's principal authors, said the measure will be sent to the bicameral conference committee and may be ratified in June. President Arroyo earlier certified the proposed measure as urgent. The law, if passed, would allow parallel importation of cheaper generic versions of medicines. The Senate passed the bill on 3rd reading earlier and the bicameral conference should start deliberations before the legislators go into recess for the May elections. Vitan said the legislation empowers the government to employ various public health safeguards that have been proven to reduce the cost of medicines. The Senate and House versions of the bill include parallel importation of inexpensive versions of patented medicines currently available elsewhere in the world; compulsory licensing, which allows the government to override a patent on a branded medicine to permit production or importation of inexpensive, generic versions of the medicine; and restricted the scope of patentable medicines preventing pharmaceutical companies from making minor modifications to medicines and then re-patent the medicines to prevent consumers from gaining access to inexpensive, generic versions. Oxfam warned that the fight to provide affordable medicines in the Philippines is far from over. The government has to contend with other threats to affordable medicines in the country, including a court case filed by the drug company Pfizer. The international pharmaceutical corporation has taken the government to court in March last year in a bid to extend the monopoly protection on its anti-hypertension drug, Norvasc. "Pfizer continues to earn $60 million a year in the Philippines selling Norvasc at more than twice the price it charges in other countries - even though heart disease is the country's number one killer and hypertension is a major cause of heart problems," said Vitan. The Philippines imported a cheaper patented version of Norvasc from India to approve it for sale immediately upon the expiry of Pfizer's patent in June, this year. This would reduce the price by at least 90 percent. Pfizer sued the government in March last year and asked for damages. "If Pfizer wins, it would introduce far higher levels of patent protection in the Philippines and encourage other pharmaceutical companies to file lawsuits to protect their patents and block generic competition," said Vitan. - GMANews.TV