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LATIN AMERICA |
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Ecuador Overrides 2.000 Pharmaceutical
Patents Considered “Indispensable”
QUITO - President Rafael Correa who had
anticipated the measure said that access to
medicine is a "human right" and that he
intended to seek "compulsory licenses" to
acquire medications considered
indispensable.
Under current World Trade Organization
rules, countries have the right to seek such
"compulsory licenses" that override
traditional patent rights. Current WTO rules
require that such countries negotiate with
the patent owners to determine fair
compensation.
“All those pharmaceutical products we can
produce and copy, we will elaborate in
Ecuador”, said Correa.
With this decision the Ecuadorian government
wishes to promote local production of
medicines thus avoiding “the huge profits of
trans-nationals”, based on an industrial and
intellectual property system which Correa
defines as “neo-liberal”.
The action by President Correa is in line
with recent statements that it would not
honour the illegitimate debt that had been
placed on the country by foreign banks
(under previous administrations).
This bold move allowed Ecuador to
renegotiate its debt for roughly 30 cents on
the dollar. Much of that debt was considered
"predatory debt" by academics who understand
the way the World Bank and other first-world
banking interests attempt to place debt
burdens on many smaller nations as a tactic
for exerting long-term influence over their
economies.
Pharmaceutical pricing is also considered
"predatory" by many observers. By
definition, prices on brand-name
pharmaceuticals are "monopoly prices."
That's because patent protection grants drug
companies a monopoly market for a period of
roughly 20 years. During that time, drug
companies extract as much money as possible
for their products, even from poorer nations
whose population can barely afford to pay
such prices.
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