- put patent in a pool and users pay compensation in order to produce medicines, and includes new formulations
- what went wrong? ---1. Limited number of patients to access the medicine because of GEO scope of the licenses and are applicable only within some countries when the patent holders allow them to be in the patent pool and most of them are produced as a generic drugs by a certain amount of companies and also see that patent pool undermines local production capacity because if country has access to VL or patent pool, country will lose incentive to produce new formulations and jeopardize competitiveness of generic medicines and price fails to decrease for no free or fair competition
-may discourage use of CL as it remains an option for countries’ self reliance and a threat against manufacturers
-transparency issues of the negotiations between MPP and the patent holders behind close doors and does not publicize which countries are at advantage and disadvantage
-weakens the solidarity of the global south’s patient and civil movement and solidarity of Global south as different levels of benefits or lack of benefits to different countries,
-VL outside MPP – example of Sofosbuvir – patented and being filed for patent applications and being questionable about novelty
- Gilead’s Voluntary Licensing
- VL is a form of monopolization in addition to IP
- CL is more difficult to be enforced as fewer companies
- Recommendations: strengthening and enforcing the patent law for the public interests, need other mechanisms other than VL
- using price control mechanisms effectively and enforced on drugs – Act on Prices of Good and Services and Drug Act Amendment
- Legislating law on an independent organization for consumer protection
Q: Goods and products act, this law does not include drugs because there is already a authority that has authority over drugs?
R. these laws includes drugs which are among the first controlled groups. The trade dept. said in one meeting that because drugs are controlled goods, the existing laws can be used to control existing price but ministry of commerce has never enforced existing mechanisms such as marketing reports and control of channels. The law is there but has not been enforced.
Q: CL has many problems, I would like to compare between [TRIPS flex] and [TRIPS plus]. Flex is the way to go right? Why are we so concerned about [TRIPs plus]. What can we do to get back to Trips Flex. In India pressure from big farmers in regards to CL, if we have TRIPS flex which help people increase access to drugs, according to India’s experience we see the attempt to increase competition within pharmaceutical industry and maybe is an opportunity for other countries to implement CL between manufacturers ----------- If Thailand implement CL against expensive drugs and have capability to produce?
Both Thailand and India countries with special representative IP attached at US embassy, China, Brazil, Russia, lobby for the amendment of law to comply with the US interest --- if they have been pressure of this sort in India according to IP attaché and come to meeting to department and developing countries are developing a floor of drug patent applications and instead of MPP support VL, why not challenge these application and based on studies in Brazil China Thai, 80% of these applications were immigrating (???) patents.
------There is no proposal to change under US pressure, difficult for now to change the law given the situation in India and political sensitivity to patent act
-------The US embassy does have special attached and previous attached held meetings, have been placed to development of IPs in India and are definitely US style standards to come into India. [Trips PLUS] MUST watch out for transatlantic partnership, and RCEP negotiations include [trips PLUS] by other more powerful countries and need to take them both and developing countries or regional platform to get developing countries on one platform for discussion.
------------different parts of the puzzle and use different strategies and approaches, the licenses generate and don’t block competition and enable countries to issue such licenses, able to help some countries but not solve all, if able to help some it is obligation to do that