Asian People’s Alliance for Combating HIV & AIDS (APACHA), the largest people’s alliance in Asia, is concerned about few issues that have lately surfaced regarding the UNITAID patent pool.

We welcome and support the idea of patent pool and feel that it is one great initiative to support the people living with HIV in the developing countries, who are in need of medicines. However, the latest comments by drug companies participating in the patent pool have come in such a way to deny support to the PLHIV in many of the developing countries, especially in Asia.

Companies are reluctant to include the Asian countries like India, China and Thailand as well as Latin American countries like Brazil to their list of countries that will have access to license for producing generic drugs. APACHA believes that this will practically defeat the entire idea of patent pool and will be against UNITAID’s commitment to ensure access to medicine for PLHIV in all the developing countries. We demand that no country should be discriminated and denied licensing through the patent pool.

The licensing for manufacturing generic drugs should not be only confined to few companies that serve the interests of the big multinational companies, but need to be extended to all the companies, who deserve and have capacity to manufacture such drugs.

As a largest multi sector network against HIV & AIDS in Asia, APACHA is concerned about the people living with HIV in the region. Not licensing the drug companies in India, China, Thailand or other countries will mean UNITAID turning its back to the millions of people in need of medicines in Asia.

As the UNITAID board in meeting on Monday to decide on how the pool will work, APACHA appeals UNITAID board not to give in to the demands of multinational drug companies and deprive millions of PLHIV living in the developing countries in Asia, who are in need of HIV medicines.

Mohammad Kamal Hossain
Coordinator
Asian People’s Alliance for Combating HIV & AIDS (APACHA)
International Secretariat,
Kathmandu, Nepal
secretariat.asia@apachanet.org
www.apachanet.org

Phone: +977-01-4721982, 4721277, 4721278 Fax: +977-01-4720926