NAIROBI - A group representing African victims of HIV/AIDS appealed to the Indian government to withdraw a controversial patents bill introduced in parliament on Friday that will bar firms in India from producing cheap copies of brand name pharmeceuticals.
Despite assurances from New Delhi that the legislation will not prevent Indian drug firms from and supplying generic anti-AIDS drugs to developing nations, the group urged that the bill be dropped or significantly amended.
The Nairobi-based Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS said it was deeply concerned that the proposed law could have a disastrous affect on the millions of Africans suffering from the deadly disease.
"We fear the proposed patent bill might have a negative impact in Africa, as millions of lives hang in the balance," it said in a letter delivered to the Indian High Commission here.
The group said its primary concern was that the law could bar Indian firms from producing the so-called "three-in-one" fixed dose combination of anti-retroviral drugs that are "easiest to use."
The pills "revolutionized AIDS treatment in Africa and 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," it said.
"These generic medications are a life line for (people with AIDS) in Kenya and the rest of Africa," the group said.
Until now, Indian firms have been able to make cheaper versions of patented drugs as India's patent laws protect the process of manufacture rather than the medicines themselves. By putting together the drug in a different way, pharmaceutical firms have been able to produce generics of all well-known products.
Indian officials defend the new law as necessary to comply with World Trade Organization rules but have stressed that HIV-AIDS patients will not suffer as under WTO regulations Indian firms will be able to continue to supply drugs to countries that do not have manufacturing facilities of their own.
Africa is home to almost two-thirds of the world's HIV and full-blown AIDS sufferers, according to the United Nations, which reported that in 2004, 3.1 million Africans contracted the infection and 2.3 million died of AIDS.
The Nairobi-based network said Africa's grim statistics made it imperative for the Indian government to drop the law, or at least significantly amend it, to save lives.
03/18/2005 15:04 GMT