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Pharmaceutical company defends IP law A top US pharmaceutical company has revealed that 56 licences have already been granted to manufacturers of HIV/AIDS generic treatment drugs in sub-Saharan Africa. Bristol Myers-Squibb said the figures were realised after organisations involved in increasing access to treatment in Africa, pooled together information from pharmaceutical companies. The company’s representative for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Brian Henry said: “The companies involved in increasing access in Africa recently pooled our information on voluntary licence in sub-Saharan Africa and discovered that we have collectively granted 56 licences to generic companies.” He observed that out of the 56 voluntary licences granted for HIV/AIDS generic products only eight had been supplied to the market as a result of the licensing deals. The company also denied claims by HIV/AIDS campaigners that IP Patent law was hindering access to treatment medicine in sub-Saharan Africa. He added: “Furthermore, 30 generic products have been made available by generic companies in sub-Saharan Africa in the absence of any voluntary licence and Intellectual Property is not the barrier to access of these products including paediatric formulations.” Meanwhile, Kenya AIDS Ngo Consortium [KANCO] has announced that more than 100,000 people in the country were desperately in need of antiretroviral treatment drugs. A spokesman for KANCO Elizaphan Ogechi said: “We need to put all people who need ARVs on treatment; we have only placed approximately 150,000 people yet our targets are 250,000 or more.” KANCO said despite government efforts to fight the deadly scourge, orphans and vulnerable children were forming a ‘Third Wave of HIV/AIDS.’ |
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