Canadá notifica OMC sobre quebra de patente de remédio para combate à AIDS.

Canadá apresentou a primeira notificação à OMC, informando a quebra compulsória de patente do medicamento utilizado no tratamento da AIDS (TriAvir), fabricado pelo laboratório canadense Apotex, visando exportar os "genéricos" deste para Ruanda, de acordo com o regime especial da OMC para estas práticas (assinado em 2003).

Trata-se de um importante avanço no sentido de combater a epidemia de AIDS que, na África, alcança seus maiores índices de casos. É bom assinalar que as conquistas do Brasil na quebra de patentes para a fabricação de genéricos abriram caminho para este tipo de solução implementado pela OMC, principalmente no que tange o caso da AIDS.

Tomara que esta medida surta os efeitos pretendidos, e não sirva apenas de plataforma política ou oportunidade de mercado. A população africana (no caso, de Ruanda) necessita urgentemente de um maior acesso a este tipo de medicamento para ter essa epidemia mortal, de alguma forma, sob controle.

Mais informações abaixo:

TRIPS AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Canada is first to notify compulsory licence to export generic drug
The WTO received from Canada, on 4 October 2007, the first notification from any government that it has authorized a company to make a generic version of a patented medicine for export under special WTO provisions agreed in 2003. The triple combination AIDS therapy drug, TriAvir, can now be made and exported to Rwanda, which is unable to manufacture the medicine itself.

Earlier, on 17 July, Rwanda informed the WTO that it intends to import 260,000 packs of TriAvir — a fixed-dose combination product of Zidovudine, Lamivudine and Nevirapine — over two years. The drug is to be made in Canada by Apotex, Inc and is called ApoTriavir by the manufacturer. Canada’s notification completes the circle. Both notifications were required for the medicine to be exported to Rwanda under an important agreement among WTO members reached on 30 August 2003, which eased the way for countries with public health problems to import cheaper generics made under compulsory licensing elsewhere when they are unable to manufacture the medicines themselves.The 2003 decision is often called the “paragraph 6 system” because it implements paragraph 6 of the 2001 Doha Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and Public Health.Canada’s notification comes under paragraph 2(c) of the 30 August 2003 General Council decision, which requires exporting countries to supply relevant information on the compulsory licence to the TRIPS Council, the WTO body comprising all members that is responsible for administering the intellectual property agreement.The notification informs WTO members that Canada has authorized the medicine to be produced and exported to Rwanda, including, as required, the following:
the conditions attached to the compulsory licence
the details of the medicines to be exported under compulsory licence
the website address where the company licensed to make the generic drug is to posts information on the quantities and the distinguishing features of the product manufactured under the system — this has to be published before shipment