AIDS Access Foundation and Others vs. Bristol-Myers Squibb

Forum:

Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court, Thailand.

Rights:

Right to Health, Access to Essential Medicines.

Marginalised Group:

People living with HIV/Aids.

Action:

The court ruling recognises the right of sufferers, who have not previously been regarded as interested parties in patent actions. The Court noted :“Medicine is one of the fundamental factors necessary for human beings, as distinct from other products or other inventions that consumers may or not choose for consumption” and that “lack of access to medicines due to high price prejudices the human rights of patients to proper medical treatment”.

The court was the first to assert the primacy of human life in trade agreements as recognised in the Doha Declaration and concluded that “injured parties …are not limited to manufacturers or sellers of medicines protected by patent. Those in need of the medicine are also interested parties in the granting of the patent.”

Court found against a patent amendment introduced by Bristol-Myers Squibb to prevent the production of generic didanosine, an essential antiretroviral drug which was developed under Public Health initiatives in the U.S. but subsequently patented by BMS to whom production was licensed. By removing dosage restriction from the Thai patent, BMS obtained much wider restriction on production and the plaintiffs challenged this restriction.

For further information see www.essentialdrugs.org