WTO agrees to extend drug patent exemption for LDCs

WTO members have agreed to extend drug patent exemption for the poorest countries by another 17 years in a landmark decision that will also benefit Bangladesh.

The new decision comes ahead of the existing privilege expiring on Jan 1 next year.

With the approaching deadline, LDC members of the WTO requested a further extension of the provision so long as those countries remained least developed nations.

A TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Council meeting in Geneva on Friday agreed, and decided to allow “maximum flexibility” in their approach to patenting pharmaceutical products until “at least January 2033”.

The decision also keeps open the option for further extensions beyond that date. It was hailed “unanimously”, WTO says in announcing Friday’s meeting outcomes.

Industries say the exemption helps countries like Bangladesh to make expensive brands available in their markets in cheaper prices as they do not need to bother about patents.

Bangladesh’s Tk 12 billion drug market is dominated by local manufacturers and many of them export their produce, using the LDC privilege.

Bangladesh Ambassador Shameem Ahsan, coordinator of the LDC group in the WTO, described the decision as “historic”.

He said it would “assure the LDCs the necessary legal certainty to procure or to produce generic medicines for those who need it most but do not have any access”.

Partners in Population and Development’s (PPD) Executive Director Joe Thomas welcomed the decision.

He told bdnews24.com it would have “significant implications” for PPD member countries.

PPD, headquartered in Dhaka, promotes collaboration among poor developing nations. More than half of the world population lives in its 26 member states, many of them in extreme poverty.

Health care cost drives millions of them from poverty to extreme poverty.

“Access to generic medicines is essential for the long-term stability of health systems in many PPD member countries,” Thomas said.

“Neither patients nor governments can afford expensive brand-name drugs in many LDCs, which are home to over 10 million of the world’s HIV/AIDS patients”.

He said the request for the patent waiver was “fair and just”.

He said this would “essentially” contribute to reducing inequality within and between countries, the 10th of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SDG Goal 3 of ensuring good health and promoting well-being for all of all ages includes the target of providing “access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines”.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo also hailed the decision.

“This decision by the TRIPS Council represents a clear and unambiguous signal that WTO members are committed to addressing the needs of the organisation's poorest members,” he said.

“With the concerns of least developed countries at the centre stage next month of our Nairobi Ministerial Conference, now is the time for WTO to build upon this momentum in other areas of our work,” the Director-General said.

This extension, the second specifically applied to pharmaceutical products for LDCs, is in line with directions set by WTO ministers in the 2001 Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health.

Following that Declaration, WTO general council in 2002 approved the existing extension to Jan 1, 2016.