MSF letter to President of India

[Guest guest]

Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam

President of India

Rashtrapati Bhawan

New Delhi 110 004

India

Geneva, February 22nd 2005

Your Excellency,

We understand that amendments to the Patent Act of 1970 of India will be

discussed in Parliament in the coming weeks. As a humanitarian

organisation providing medical assistance and relief in nearly 80

countries around the world, Médecins Sans Frontières is writing to ask

for your support to ensure that patients in developing countries will

continue to have access to affordable medicines.

India has played a pivotal role in supplying affordable generic versions

of drugs used throughout the developing world. It has also been a leader

in the debates at the World Trade Organization on the Agreement on

Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and its effects on

Public Health.

Of the 700,000 people who currently receive antiretroviral treatment in

the developing world, 50% receive Indian generic medicines. Today, MSF

treats 25,000 people with antiretrovirals in 27 countries around the

world, and 70% of our patients use medicines that originate in India.

The availability of fixed-dose combination therapy (or three-in-one

pills) has revolutionised AIDS treatment, a fact we have witnessed first

hand in our own programmes. Providing this user-friendly form of

treatment has only been possible because there are no patent constraints

in India on putting these medicines together in one tablet.

MSF has examined the proposed amendments to the Patents Act of 1970. We

believe they will drastically restrict, perhaps even prevent, the

production and supply of this vital therapy by Indian pharmaceutical

companies to other developing countries.

India is the major manufacturer and supplier of affordable generic

medicines. We strongly urge you to ensure that India's compliance with

the WTO agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property

Rights will ensure maximum flexibility in the Indian patent law and

policies for the benefit of patients - in India and globally.

We hope that India will continue to demonstrate the kind of

international leadership it has shown with the WTO Doha Declaration on

TRIPS and Public Health. We appeal to you that any amendments to the law

will safeguard not only the citizens of India, but also the millions of

children, women and men in the developing world whose lives depend on

access to affordable generic medicines.

Yours sincerely,

Rowan Gillies, M.B.B.S.

President

International Council of Médecins Sans Frontières

Geneva, Switzerland

Karim Laouabdia-Sellami, MD, MPH

Director

Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

Médecins Sans Frontières

Geneva, Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0) 22 849 84 06

Fax: + 41 (0) 22 849 84 04

klaouabdia@...

c.c. The Honorable Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

c.c. Mrs. Gandhi, National Advisory Council