Copyright 1999 The Baltimore Sun Company
THE
BALTIMORE SUN
September 19, 1999, Sunday ,FINAL
SECTION: TELEGRAPH ,6A
LENGTH: 707 words
HEADLINE:
South Africa, U.S. end fight over AIDS drugs;
Availability and cost of patent-protected medicines at issue
SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- The United States and South
Africa have reached an agreement aimed at resolving a looming
trade dispute over the production of patented drugs to treat
AIDS.
The U.S. trade representative, Charlene
Barshefsky, announced Friday that South Africa had pledged to
abide by World Trade Organization rules when it enacts a new law intended to
make it easier to import and produce the drugs locally at lower costs.
The United States, in turn, pledged to drop its demands that South
Africa revise parts of the law that had prompted a legal
challenge by U.S. and international pharmaceutical companies. Their challenge
had blocked the law.
Barshefsky also indicated the administration would
step back from a review process that could have led to trade sanctions against
South Africa.
Vice president involved
Although
the dispute involved arcane, complex trade and patent practices, it generated
considerable attention because advocates for acquired immune deficiency syndrome
patients have staged noisy protests at several campaign appearances by Vice
President Al Gore, including the speech in June in which he officially announced
his candidacy.
Gore became a focus because of his meetings with South
Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, and the advocates blamed him
for Barshefsky's tough trade stance against South Africa.
Protesters said Gore was the Clinton administration's point man in
helping the pharmaceutical industry make money off AIDS drugs.
About 300 protesters gathered in Philadelphia in June to chant, "Gore's
greed kills!"
"The vice president is pleased this issue has been
resolved," a spokesman, Thomas M. Rosshirt, said. "He is eager to continue his
work with Mbeki to confront the crisis of AIDS in
Africa and around the world."
6 million infected
The law at the heart of the issue was passed in 1997 with the hopes of
giving South Africa's AIDS patients access to less expensive
versions of drugs to treat the AIDS virus, which has infected
an estimated 6 million of the country's 44 million people.
The law would
apply to all medicines, but the focus of the dispute has been on
AIDS since AIDS drugs are so expensive that
they are out of reach for most South Africans.
A coalition of U.S.,
European and other pharmaceutical companies have challenged the law in South
African courts, saying it infringed on their pharmaceutical patents.
Imports and generic drugs
The most controversial parts of the
law involved two provisions to lower the price of AIDS drugs.
The first would allow the import of commercial drugs from countries where they
are available at a lower cost, a practice known as parallel importing.
The second, called compulsory licensing, would allow
the South African government to license local companies to make generic versions
of the drugs.
The World Trade Organization allows both practices under
certain conditions, but the pharmaceutical companies, backed by the
administration, opposed them.
A U.S. trade official said Friday that the
law was written too broadly and could allow abuses; the official said the
administration was willing to back down from its position now that South
Africa has pledged in a letter to strictly abide by the trade
organization's conditions.
Eric L. Sawyer, a spokesman for Act-Up, the
advocacy group that has been organizing the protests against Gore, welcomed the
decision, calling it a concession by the administration that was "a positive
step" toward making AIDS drugs more accessible.
"It
shows Vice President Gore has been listening to us," he said.
The
agreement does not resolve the ultimate status of the law, which has not taken
effect pending the pharmaceutical companies' legal challenge.
Challenge
suspended
Last week the companies announced they would suspend their
challenge and seek a negotiated settlement. South Africa's
health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, has said the country was considering
redrafting the law.
"I am hopeful that this suspension, coupled with
progress made between our two governments, will enable all interested parties to
develop the best possible approach to addressing this serious situation, while
protecting international property rights," Barshefsky said.
LOAD-DATE: September 23, 1999
