February 19, 2003

Via Facsimile: (011-4122) 749-5308

Mr. Dominic Keating
Attorney Advisor,
U.S. Patent and Trademarks
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
11 Route Pregny
1292 Chambesy
Geneva, Switzerland

RE: WTO TRIPS meeting week of February 17, 2003 and Doha's Article 30 solution

Dear Mr. Keating:

World Vision U.S. understands that there will be a meeting of the Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights next week in Geneva. World Vision is an international Christian humanitarian relief and development organization operating in partnership with national World Vision offices in over 90 countries.

Last November, in Sydney, Australia, World Vision Australia, Oxfam and Medecins sans Frontiers spoke with the Ministers who attended the informal meeting. One of the central issues for discussion was TRIPS and access to generic medicines. World Vision U.S. remains concerned over the negotiations next week in Geneva.

Over the past 50 years, World Vision has directed its efforts toward improving the welfare and rights of children and their families living in the most impoverished and marginalized communities in the developing world. From our experience, we conclude that it is imperative for middle-income and developing nations to have access to affordable medicines through a mechanism that is both simple and legally binding. World Vision believes that the proposed Article 30 solution to TRIPS is the most just proposal on the table at this time because it addresses the overwhelming public health challenges faced by the developing world.

• We advocate for a solution that allows developing countries to import generic drugs directly from generic producers. Article 30 provides the best framework for this solution.

• There is no need to go beyond the Doha text that provides governments with flexibility in determining what they judge to be a public health emergency.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) should not determine lists of restrictions for other diseases because it would open the door to conflicts of interest. Restrictions developed by WHO would severely limit and impede the capacity of governments of developing countries to attack not just one disease but many at one time.

• It is not necessary to make Article 30 "temporary" or introduce the principle as a "waiver" to Article 31 (f) or to subject it to "future negotiations." All those conditions would retard market entry of generic medicines in poor and middle-income countries and needlessly condemn current and future affected populations to suffering and in some cases, untimely death.

• Compulsory licensing on a "product-by-product" basis for generic medicines places an onerous and unnecessary burden upon developing and middle-income countries.

• Poor countries need to direct their technical expertise and funds available (often by way of savings set out in a national poverty reduction strategy such as the PRSP) toward improving their citizens' quality of life. The 2002 UNDP report on the least developed countries notes that after basic consumption these countries have US$0.17/day to spend on all infrastructure needs. By comparison, in 2001, U.S. pharmaceutical companies earned $37 billion in profits with a rate of return of 39% for their shareholders. They are not in need of relief.

• The Article 30 solution would ensure the right to access for health care for citizens in poor and middle-income countries. We know that the negative impact on human resource potential of preventable and treatable diseases is a major constraint to economic and social development in the Third World. An Article 30 solution would uphold the value of all human life.

It is important to note that last January 31, President Bush remarked on his historic Emergency HIV/AIDS Initiative and said:

"America believes deeply that everybody has worth, everybody matters. …If you're blessed, there is a responsibility to recognize your blessings in a compassionate way. Blessings are a two-way street. We've got to understand in this country that if you value life and say every life is equal, that includes a suffering child on the continent of Africa."