First generic AIDS drugs finally headed from Canada to Africa

Four long years after legislation was passed unanimously by Parliament, the first low-cost shipment of generic drugs from Canada should soon be en route to Africa to help AIDS victims.Toronto (9 May 2008) - The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network this week welcomed an announcement that the government of Rwanda, following a competitive tendering process, has chosen to purchase a low-cost AIDS drug from Ontario-based generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Apotex Inc.

This means that Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) may finally begin to honour the promise first made four years ago to allow affordable medicines to flow to developing countries.

The network says the pending shipment is the first and only success the program produced and, as a result, it demonstrates that the CAMR must be simplified if Canada is going to play any meaningful role in providing future help to developing countries in need.

Richard Elliott, executive-director of the network, says the existing Canadian law is "riddled with unnecessary hurdles." Not even the initial shipment of drugs would be in the works if Apotex and several other organizations had not made extraordinary efforts to overcome obstacles in their way, he said.

"This is not sustainable. How many lives could have been saved in the meantime if this law had worked smoothly the way it should and could?" Elliott asks.

'Getting the Regime Right'

The network presented the Harper government last year with a submission - Getting the Regime Right - outlining 13 amendments to make the CARM more workable.

"But in December of last year, the minister of industry tabled a long-overdue report in Parliament indicating the government had no plans to make any changes," Elliott notes.

"What we need is a straightforward system that is user-friendly for both developing countries and for generic manufacturers in Canada. Instead of requiring separate negotiations and a separate licence for each country and each order of medicines, we need a simple 'one-licence solution' such as the one we've proposed."

The CARM was worked out following an agreement by members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2003 and passed unanimously in 2004 by all parties in Parliament.

It is meant to allow compulsory licensing of patented medicines, so that generic drug companies in Canada can legally produce and export lower-cost versions of patented, brand-name medicines to developing countries.

The deal between the Rwandan Government and Apotex Inc. marks the first use anywhere in the world of this mechanism.

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