In the midst of the world’s biggest HIV/AIDS conference here in Toronto, close to a hundred activists launched a noisy protest over bilateral free trade agreements, which they say elevate patent protections above the right to life-extending antiretroviral drugs. The piece of street theatre held last Wednesday in front of the media centre at the 16th annual International AIDS Conference in Toronto featured an activist dressed as “Uncle Sam” who pointed a gun at the others, forcing them to sign free trade agreements (FTAs).

Those portraying the world’s poorer countries shouted, “We won’t sign away our health.” According to UNAIDS, of the estimated 40 million people living with HIV, five to six million in low-and middle-income countries will die in the next two years if they do not receive antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatment, but just 700,000 people now take such drugs.

And US efforts to introduce stronger intellectual property rights in bilateral trade agreements — 12 so far — are further destroying the ability of developing countries to access affordable medicines, charges a coalition of NGOs, including Oxfam. US free trade agreements severely restrict generic versions of new medicines — the only proven mechanism for lowering prices. Until generics came on the market, ARV therapy cost about $10,000 per patient per year. Thanks to generic competition, the price for these drugs in preferred fixed-dose combinations has dropped to $140 per year. “After campaigning by NGOs and people living with disease, the WTO reaffirmed public health flexibilities in intellectual property rules,” said Mohga Kamal-Yanni of Oxfam.

That decision, known as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement, or TRIPS, allows the export of low-cost generic drugs to developing countries that do not have the capacity to produce such medicine domestically. Under WTO rules, governments can declare a public health emergency and issue compulsory licences that permit the manufacture of a patented drug without consent from the owner. “Now the US is systematically forcing poor countries to give up their rights and ability to protect public health,” Kamal-Yanni said. The US is currently in the final stages of negotiating a bilateral FTA with Thailand. This could mean that Thai companies producing generic anti-retroviral drugs to treat AIDS patients will be unable to make a profit. It may also mean that the drugs being made by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation of Thailand will become too expensive to manufacture because of high licensing fees.

The US has pursued similar trade agreements that are known as TRIPS-plus because they go beyond what was established in TRIPS. TRIPS-plus trade agreements, like the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, extend patents that countries like India and Brazil have used to produce and provide ARVs.

An FTA with Thailand, as well as separate ones

with South Korea and Malaysia, is scheduled to go before Congress for approval by July 1, 2007. However, Korean labour leaders have told their government to slow down negotiations and there is little chance that Thailand, with a weak caretaker government, will be able to do much before that date. — IPS