Free trade agreement with US threatens access to medicines in Bolivia

As a medical organization, Médecins Sans Frontières cannot accept the subordination of the health needs of our patients and millions of others to US trade interests.

La Paz - International medical humanitarian organization Médècins Sans Frontières, is deeply concerned that the recently announced free trade agreement between the US and Bolivia (plus Ecuador, Colombia and Peru) will have devastating consequences on the access to medicines for millions of people in the Andean region with HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.

As recently negotiated free trade agreements by the US - including CAFTA, US-Chile and US-Singapore - demonstrate, the United States intent is to strengthen intellectual property regulations beyond what is required in TRIPS, to the detriment of public health.

In several Latin American countries, HIV/AIDS has become a leading cause of death. Hundreds of thousands of people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries in the Americas cannot afford antiretroviral therapy - which in wealthy countries, such as the US, has dramatically extended and improved the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS, reducing AIDS-related deaths by over 70%.

"My partner died three years ago and we had to spend US$700 a month for his treatment; that was our ruin, we had to sell everything and afterwards he died", states Antonio, a member of Más Vida, an organization of people living with HIV in Bolivia.

Currently the government in Bolivia is able to use the flexibilities and safeguards of the WTO agreement on intellectual property to purchase generic medicines. The effects of generic competition on drug prices have been well documented and widely recognized, reducing the cost of treatment particularly in the case of HIV/AIDS.

Bolivia is the country with the higher seroprevalence of chagas in the world, containing with 300,000 infected children under 12 years. Chagas is the fourth disease responsible of the 13% of deaths among 15 and 75 years.

If a new drug for chagas was developed, the Bolivian government would be able to issue a compulsory license to overcome the patent barrier. However, this would not be the case if Bolivia signed an FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with US as the United States is seeking dramatic limitations on the circumstances under which compulsory licenses can be issued.

"It would be catastrophic that the 40% of Bolivian population currently infected by Chagas, couldn´t have access to a new effcetive and safe drug because of the comercial interests of United States" states Silvia Moriana, General Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières.

As a medical organization, Médecins Sans Frontières cannot accept the subordination of the health needs of our patients and millions of others to US trade interests. In order to ensure the protection of public health and the promotion of access to medicines for all, Médecins Sans Frontières must recommend to the Bolivian government that intellectual property provisions be excluded from the upcoming US-Andean free trade negotiations.

Just three years ago, the average cost of a triple combination of antiretrovirals was between US$10,000-$15,000 per patient per year, and today it is available for as little as $140 per patient per year. These price reductions were the direct result of international public pressure and generic competition.