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 MSF's Dr David Wilson"International pressure has limited Thailand's ability to get these drugs on to the market"  real 28k |
Rich countries 'hinder fight against Aids'
 About 2% of Thais carry the HIV virus |
The medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has accused the West of forcing poor countries to buy expensive patented medicines instead of using cheaper generic drugs to fight Aids and other diseases.
It is calling for the rich countries, where the large drug companies are based, to "back off" and allow developing countries to use drugs they can afford.
MSF says the United States last year threatened Thailand with high import taxes on its jewellery and wood products unless it used patented medicines.
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"The USA is the destination of a quarter of exports from Thailand so these threats are taken very seriously," it says
Aids drugs 'unaffordable'
The cost of Aids treatment in Bangkok, including some patented drugs, is nearly $700 per month, compared with an average monthly wage for an office worker of $110 per month.
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The charity, which won the 1999 Nobel peace prize, says this is just one example of a broader problem caused by the high cost of patented drugs.
When Thailand began local production of one anti-Aids drug, zidovudine, the price fell from more than $300 per month to less than $100. Zidovudine, patented as AZT, is used in combination with other drugs.
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MSF says treatments for tuberculosis, sleeping sickness and other tropical diseases are also inhibitively priced in many countries because of patent protection.
Countries that have come under pressure similar to that applied to Thailand, include South Africa and Malaysia, as well as other even poorer countries, MSF says.
Nathan Ford, one of the authors of the Lancet report, said that MSF wanted the developed world to "back off".
Secondly, he said, MSF wanted developing countries to be helped to understand that global trade accords on intellectual property rights permit them to produce generic drugs if the patented version is unaffordable in their country.
MSF is calling on the European Union to raise the issue of medicines during debates on intellectual property rights at a conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Seattle.
 Orbinski: No new research on tropical diseases |
On Tuesday the charity launched a campaign to improve access to essential medicines in the developing world.
It said infectious diseases killed 17 million people worldwide every year, and that MSF doctors were forced to watch patients die either because drugs were too expensive, or because they were no longer produced.
It added that drug companies had stopped searching for cures to diseases that affect people in poor countries, concentrating instead on treatments for complaints such as impotence and obesity.
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See also: | |
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 | 26 Nov 99 | Africa |
| Moi: Aids a 'national disaster' |
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| 26 Nov 99 | Medical notes |
| Aids drugs and the developing world |
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| 23 Nov 99 | Health |
| HIV hits 50 million |
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| 24 Nov 99 | Health |
| Medicines plea for poorest countries |
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| 07 Nov 99 | Aids |
| Experts tackling Asian AIDS explosion |
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| 23 Nov 99 | Battle for Free Trade |
| Developing countries fight for free trade |
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| 18 Sep 99 | Africa |
| Aids drug trade dispute ends |
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Internet links: | |
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| UNAIDS |
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| World Health Organisation |
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| Medecins Sans Frontieres |
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