Rwanda HIV/AIDS drug patent move

Rwanda is the first country to set aside the patent rights of drugmakers by invoking the "Paragraph 6" mechanism of the World Trade Organization's agreement on Trade-Related on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), according to Intellectual Property Watch, a Switzerland-based campaigning group.

The Rwandan government informed the WTO it proposes to import HIV/AIDS drugs from Canada-based Apotex, with an initial estimate of 260,000 packs of TriAvir, a combination of the active ingredients zidovudine, lamivudine and nevirapine. The document is recorded on the WTO web site (www.wto.org) as IP/N/9/RWA/1.

Although wealthier countries, such as Brazil and Thailand, have adopted similar mechanisms to issue compulsory licenses for drugs (Marketletters passim), the Rwandan move is the first of its kind. Under the 2003 patent waiver procedure, a country citing a medical emergency can import non-patented versions of a drug, rather than issue licenses to manufacture them locally. The measure was intended to assist poorer countries such as Rwanda, but critics claim that pressure from the drug industry has dissuaded governments from using it. The European Union has recently delayed ratification of the waiver procedure, due to concerns about its utility, until drug aid programs to poorer countries are expanded.