Creating an environment supportive of ‘right to health and the right to access to essential medicines’ |22 September 2014

There is a need to reform existing patent laws in Seychelles to create an environment that is supportive for ‘right to health and the right to access to essential medicines’.

This was discussed during a two-day workshop at the Savoy Seychelles Resort & Spa last week.

It was organised by the Ministry of Health with the technical support from the Southern African Regional Programme on Access to Medicines and Diagnostics (Sarpam) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips).

When he officially launched the workshop, public health commissioner, Dr Jude Gédéon said it was aimed at promoting a better understanding among Seychelles stake holders towards reforming existing patent laws and to create an environment that is supportive for rights to health and rights to access to essential medicines.

He expressed the hope that in the end, everyone concerned will have a better understanding of the Trips Agreement.

Dr Gédéon addressing the delegates

The workshop was held in the presence of the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Seychelles Rajatha Piyatissa,  leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly David Pierre, other members of the National Assembly, World Health Organisation liaison officer for Seychelles Cornelia Atsyor, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative, representatives from the French embassy, chief  executives and commissioners, representative of Sarpam, University of Seychelles, private health sector, and non-governmental organisations.

The Trips Agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has established minimum standards of protection that each government has to give to the IP of fellow WTO members, thus limiting the former scope for flexible national approaches. However, the Trips Agreement incorporates certain ‘flexibilities’. The aim is to permit developing countries to use Trips-compatible norms in a manner that enable them to pursue their own public policies, such as access to pharmaceutical products.

Currently Seychelles is in accession talks to become a full WTO member. One of the challenges of WTO membership is the compulsory adherence to the Trips Agreement. A new Industrial Property IP Law (Act 7 of 2014) has just been approved by the National Assembly and the national IP committee is currently writing an IP policy. This was a good opportunity to analyse and discuss the possible negative impact of strengthened IP/Patent legislation on health and access to essential medicines.

The Sarpam and the UNDP are providing technical support to the Seychelles government in its efforts to providing access to essential medicines to all Seychellois in order to reduce disease burden.

Sarpam is a regional project funded by the Department of International Development (DFID) that helps SADC (Southern African Development Community) member states in implementing the Pharmaceuticals Business Plan 2007-2013 (PBP) 2.

Although the PBP, which a review is currently underway and likely to be reviewed, ended in December 2013, Sarpam will continue to work on attaining its objectives up to the end of 2014. The overall goal of the SADC PBP is to ensure the availability of essential medicines (including African traditional medicines) to reduce disease burden in the region. The main objective is to improve sustainable availability and access to affordable, quality, safe, effective, essential medicines including African traditional medicines. And the goal of Sarpam is to increase access to affordable essential medicines in the region through the development of a more efficient and competitive regional pharmaceutical market place.

Seychelles is the only SADC member state that is not yet a full member of the WTO. Adjustments to the 901 national patent law (last revised 1991) to be compliant with Trips will likely lead to longer patent terms (20 rather than 14 years). It will make patents easier to obtain, and risks making (essential) medicines more expensive.

The government of Seychelles is currently rewriting its IP/Patent legislation in order to become Trips compliant.

“Seychelles prides itself as our Constitution guarantees the right to health which includes the right to access to essential medicines. This is a key component of the ministry’s health policy. This principle is also well enshrined as an essential component of primary health care,” said Dr Gédéon.

He added that his ministry has for many years had a list of essential medicines which is in line with the WHO essential medicine concept. The challenges that the ministry faces in ensuring the availability of these medicines at all times have also been remarkable.

While highlighting that the cost of essential medicines are affordable, some of the products used to treat even common conditions remain very expensive. He mentioned that on one hand there is the heavy burden that communicable diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, influenza among others put on the ministry while on the other hand the toll of non-communicable diseases is an economic burden.

Referring to cancer and cardio vascular diseases which are on the increase, he said last year alone anti-cancer medicine cost the government R4.6 million while medicines for the national retroviral treatment for patients infected with the HIV virus, which is funded entirely by the government, cost R1.3 million.

Referring to the new cure for Hepatitis C, which is now available in the USA and Europe, he said the course of 84 tablets cost US $84,000. Dr Gédéon also said branded medicines are expensive as pharmaceutical companies have patents. Therefore medicines will be more affordable when there are generics.

To this regard he was informed by Dr Wilbert Bannenberg of Sarpam that Kenya and India are to be the generics for the Hepatitis C tablets.

“We also understand the WTO Trip agreement as an attempt to narrow the gaps in the way these patent rights are protected around the world,” he said. It is therefore important to link medicine strategy to our national patent laws. As you all know Seychelles has been working hard for accession to the WTO. This is more important for trade and for our continuing economic development,” said Dr Gédéon.

Dr Wilbert Bannenberg added that the objective of the Sarpam business plan that ran until last year is to make sure all persons in the SADC region have access to medicine. He mentioned several areas of work to achieve this like helping each other identify good sources of medicine procurements, regulate organisations and harmonise regulatory efforts for control of medicines.

Lucille de Commarmond, chief pharmacist in the Ministry of Health, also gave a presentation on access to medicines in Seychelles – a policy review.
The workshop continued with other presentations on the legal issues of Trips, Seychelles’ progress towards admission to the WTO and the current intellectual property (IP) legislations.