Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
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September 18, 1999, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A11
LENGTH: 603 words
HEADLINE:
Deal Made On AIDS Drug Sales; U.S., South
Africa Reach Agreement
BYLINE: Ceci
Connolly, Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
The United States and South Africa reached
an agreement yesterday that supporters say eases the way for the manufacture and
sale of more affordable AIDS drugs in South
Africa.
The joint "understanding" negotiated by U.S.
Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky also alleviates a potentially thorny
political issue for Vice President Gore less than a week before he meets in New
York with South African President Thabo Mbecki.
Barshefsky agreed to
support South Africa's drive to make less expensive versions of
AIDS medications available to its disease-stricken people in
exchange for a pledge that South Africa would not violate U.S.
patent laws.
"The United States very much appreciates South
Africa's assurance that, as it moves vigorously forward to
bring improved health care to its citizens, it will do so in a manner consistent
with international commitments that fully protects intellectual
property rights," she said in a statement. "This will enable us to set
aside this issue from our bilateral trade agenda."
At the heart of the
dispute is a South African law designed to provide better access to low-priced
AIDS treatments. American pharmaceutical companies see the
law--which allows South Africa's health minister to bring in
cheaper imports or locally produced generic drugs--as an infringement on their
patent protections. More than 40 companies based in the United States, South
Africa and Europe filed suit challenging the law, but recently
suspended that court action as negotiations between the two countries
progressed.
On the campaign trail this summer, Gore has been hounded by
a small band of protesters who accused the vice president of siding with wealthy
drugmakers over millions of poor South Africans infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
"Gore's greed kills," the protesters
frequently yelled at Gore, claiming he threatened Mbecki with trade sanctions if
South Africa permitted the widespread sale of cheaper drugs.
But Gore has steadfastly maintained he never made those threats and
yesterday his spokesman said the vice president was ready to help Mbecki tackle
the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, where an
estimated 1,500 new infections occur each day.
Barshefsky's announcement
was the second time this week a Clinton administration decision redounded to
Gore's political benefit. On Thursday, the administration abandoned its early
objections to exporting encryption technology, a decision that pleased the newly
influential high-tech industry.
Yesterday, drugmakers and
AIDS activists embraced the oral agreement as an encouraging
first step.
Under the agreement, "the South Africans can produce drugs
cheaper and do it within international law," said Daniel Zengale, executive
director of AIDS Action, a major health lobbying group. "South
Africa has clearly done its part. . . . We hope this sets the
stage for addressing the epidemic more broadly and addressing the fundamental
problem of drug pricing."
Jeff Trewhitt, spokesman for the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the industry believes
South Africa's new health minister appears "very flexible" in
working with the companies to offer better, more affordable care to the people
of her country.
The agreement leaves unresolved the precise details of
how South Africa will both abide by international patent laws
and make less-expensive AIDS drugs available to patients there.
One trade official suggested the South African government is attempting to find
a way to adequately compensate drug makers for the licensing of
AIDS medicines.
LOAD-DATE: September 18, 1999
