PCIJ WebAlert #17.2008

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W H A T ' S N E W @ www.pcij.org
12.May.2008


---------------[ i Report Feature )------

PUBLIC EYE
No Cure for Costly Medicines?
Draft Law Affirms Patent Rights of Drug Firms
by Alecks P. Pabico

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to sign into law this
week the recently ratified cheaper medicines bill, which promises to
bring down the prohibitive cost of drugs and medicines in the country.

Long awaited by the public, the bill had languished in Congress for
almost a decade, its recent approval even bogged down by intense
lobbying and debates in the bicameral conference committee over the
“generics-only” provision and a proposed price-regulation board. In
the end, public-health advocates, legal experts, even some legislators
say the final version of the “Universally Accessible Cheaper and
Quality Medicines Act of 2008” was severely watered down, while others
acknowledge that it sets down policies they can live with.

But as the PCIJ reports, drug companies may challenge the law every
step of the way. And with the battle now shifting to the drafting of
its implementing rules and regulations, particularly vulnerable
provisions are the Intellectual Property Code amendments that, critics
say, legislators had apparently failed to scrutinize more closely.

Public-health advocates like lawyer Elpidio Peria feel that the IP
Code amendments, though less contentious and controversial, were the
more important provisions that unfortunately took a backseat, obscured
by the “simplistic debates” on price regulation and the Generics Act
amendments.

An associate of the Third World Network that had supported the Senate
version of the bill, Peria says the bicam debates “only proved the
esoteric nature of intellectual property, which makes it dangerous to
be left to lawyers and policymakers.”

Likely to face challenges from pharmaceutical companies in court, he
says, are the draft law’s “watered-down version on the matter of
international exhaustion of patent rights, weak early working or Bolar
provision, and government-use provisions with TRIPS-plus features
[high levels of intellectual property protection not found in the
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
Agreement] in it.” Another problematic amendment is a new section
regarding the grant of a “special” compulsory license.

His advise to fellow advocates: “The IP Code amendments will now have
to be scrutinized closely so that its imperfections might be augmented
by the IRR.”

Read on at http://pcij.org
Post your comments at http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2315

See also:

Postscript to a long-overdue legislation
http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2318


---------------[ The Daily PCIJ )------

Deceit, reprisal stalk referendum in Burma
by Tita Valderama

MANDALAY, Myanmar — It was first scheduled for May 10 — a referendum
on the military-sponsored constitution that was hailed as a democratic
step to a possible change of government leaders in 2010. Most groups
opposed to the military junta have encouraged vigorous public
participation in the electoral exercise.

While they are expecting for the best scenario of having a resounding
“no” vote, these pro-democracy and ethnic groups are preparing for the
worst scenario that the military regime will come up with a “forced
yes” vote.

Last Tuesday, the government announced that it was resetting to May 24
the referendum in at least 40 townships in Yangon that were seriously
ravaged by tropical cyclone Nagris over the weekend.

Strangely, the draft constitution seeks, among other things, to change
the country’s name from the “Federal Union of Myanmar” to the
“Democratic Union of Myanmar.”

Read on at pcij.org
Post your comments at http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2314