Ethics Newsline®

Special to Newsline from Canadian correspondent Errol P. Mendes

OTTAWA
Canada last week became the first of the richest industrialized countries in the G8 to promise to change its patent laws to allow generic drug makers to manufacture low-cost AIDS and other vital drugs for export to poor countries that cannot afford the more expensive brand-name drugs.

This move would be one of the first responses by a Western government to the Word Trade Organization agreement in August to allow access by poorer countries to patented drugs for health emergencies.

To the surprise of many, the association that promotes the interest of the Canadian brand-name multinational drug companies, Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, has supported the government’s move by stating that Canada “has an opportunity to show international leadership by changing patent laws to improve access to the drugs.”

The support by both the Canadian government and the country’s brand-name drug manufacturers has been hailed as very significant by the United Nations and advocacy groups around the world lobbying for access by the world’s poor to desperately needed drugs.