Roxas bucks WTO proposal on manufacture of drugs

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday the Philippines is against a recent proposal of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to limit the coverage of compulsory licensing to locally manufacture imported pharmaceuticals only to cases of national emergencies and other situation of extreme urgency.

"If the proposal is adopted, it would effectively douse cold water on our program of providing affordable medicines especially to the poor," Roxas said.

The DTI has a parallel drug importation program wherein government buys inexpensive generic drugs from such countries as India and distributes the medicines to various government hospitals.

Roxas, who has been at the forefront of the debate at the WTO, noted that Article 31 of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) allows compulsory licenses to be issued to a developing country whether in normal situations or in situations of national emergency and other circumstances of extreme urgency, or in cases of public non-commercial use.

With compulsory licensing, developing countries are able to locally manufacture vital medicines in response to pressing public health concerns.

The ongoing debate at the WTO is centered on how developing countries which cannot manufacture the needed drugs on their own could import these from other developing countries.

"The Doha Declaration intends to afford countries the unfettered right to determine what constitutes public health problems, " Roxas said. – Marianne Go