Brasília, May 25, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - At the World Health Assembly last week in Geneva, Switzerland, Brazil led a meeting with representatives from Russia, China, India, Thailand, South Africa, and Nigeria to discuss the implantation of a technology exchange network to improve each country's capacity to produce Aids-treatment drugs.

According to the director of the National STD/Aids Program, Alexandre Grangeiro, the purpose of the network would be "to incorporate new technologies, develop new remedies and laboratory ingredients, and, thus, reduce costs and guarantee the sustainability of the programs."

The functioning of the network should be part of the declaration that the seven countries are expected to present at the World Aids Conference scheduled for July 11-17 in Bangkok, Thailand.

MAKING PATENTS MORE FLEXIBLE

The declaration by the seven countries will also reaffirm the need to make patents more flexible, in order to guarantee access to Aids medications. According to data presented by Grangeiro, of the 5 million people who need to be treated for Aids, fewer than 500 thousand have access to treatment. Ninety percent of the cases of Aids are in developing countries.

Several years ago the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized making trade agreements more flexible in order to guarantee the population access to remedies used in medical treatment. The WTO's authorization, however, has been reversed by bilateral agreements for the purchase and sale of medications.

These bilateral agreements have included more restrictive clauses concerning the breaking of patents. According to the DST/Aids director, "some of the agreements reached in Central America, for example, foresee patent extensions from 20 to 25 years and restrictions on local production or market protection to ensure perpetual importation from the countries that control the patent."

Bearing in mind the restrictions included in bilateral agreements, Brazil managed to pass an amendment to the World Health Assembly's Aids Resolution, determining that the importation and exportation of generics and the breaking of patents should be stipulated in bilateral agreements as an option to deal with national emergencies, price abuse, or cartel formation.

Translator: David Silberstein