Are Drugs Firms Exploiting AIDS?

It is estimated that some 36 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS.

According to the United Nations, nearly 70 percent of the adults and 80 percent of the children who are infected with HIV live in Africa. In countries such as South Africa, Botswana or Zimbabwe, a fifth or a quarter of the adult population is infected with HIV and AIDS is set to claim the lives of around half of all 15-year-olds.

For most of the world's poor, medical treatment is hardly affordable. The only drugs they can afford, if any, are cheap generic copies of patented drugs. International drug makers, however, see this as a violation of their copy rights.

South Africa has more people living with HIV-AIDS than any other single country. In South Africa, hundreds of people die of AIDS every day. Providing medicine for them is difficult. A court case brought by the world's leading drug companies against the South African government is making it even more difficult.

Its outcome could set a precedent with implications extending far beyond South Africa's borders. 39 international pharmaceutical companies want the South African government to overturn a law, which allows the import of cheap copies of their products to combat AIDS and other diseases.

The companies argue that it is patent protection which enables them to develop new drugs, including new treatments for AIDS. But activists accuse the companies of putting profits ahead of lives.

The German company Boehringer Ingelheim, based near Frankfurt, is one of 39 drug companies that have taken the South African government to court because they see their patent rights endangered.

"There are 35 million people who don't know how much longer they have to live," explains Rolf Krebs of Boehringer Ingelheim. "And there are many research projects underway. 100 different substances are currently being tested. That gives you an idea of the dimensions."

Currently AIDS drugs cost more than 10,000 US dollars per patient per year. That means the research is irrelevant for most patients, who live in poor countries. In the eyes of many, this is a scandal which harms the image of international drug companies.

Politicians have called on them to make concessions. One of them is the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder: "I have written to the German pharmaceutical companies saying that existing drugs should be affordable where they are most needed."

Pressure from politicians and the public has persuaded drug firms to compromise. They've now said they are prepared to lower their prices by 90 percent - provided their patents are protected.

But not all governments agree. Rolf Krebs of Boehringer Ingelheim: "We ourselves have written to the South African government four times, offering to donate a substance which can combat a mother-to-child infection. Our letters have remained unanswered."

Critics of the drug companies are against discount prices for individual countries. They say: that's no long-term solution, and they support countries like South Africa which curb patent protection.

"We're doing all we can to see that these emergency measures are at last put into effect," says Kattrin Lempp is with "Médecins Sans Frontières" (MSF), an international humanitarian aid organization that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger.

She says "We are doing all we can to see that these emergency measures are at last put into effect, so that poorer countries can either produce drugs cheaply by themselves, independently of the international drug firms, or import cheap copies of patented AIDS drugs from other countries such as India."

But a battle against the big drug firms is difficult. They dominate research. That's their power and their responsibility.

Brazil

Antonio de Conceicao has particular reason to be glad that he lives in Brazil. He's got AIDS and is destitute: anywhere else that would be a death sentence. But in Brazil, the medicine he needs is free of charge.

This is made possible by Brazil's unprecedented decision to go it alone: the country produces 7 of the 12 drugs against AIDS in its own laboratories. If the country bought these prescription drugs from the patent holders abroad, they would be three times as expensive.

"We think that somebody who holds a patent for an AIDS drug has social responsibilities," says Dr. Raldo Bonifacio, AIDS coordinator for the Brazilian health ministry.

"Not only the manufacturer, the general public has to profit as well. We think it's not right if production of medicines is so restricted that only the patent holder profits."

International drug companies have complained of patent piracy and are threatening to take legal action against the Brazilian government. But Brazilian law says the production of the AIDS drugs is perfectly legal.

Dr. Peter Siemsen is a patent lawyer: "Brazilian law has foreseen this problem and taken precautions, not especially against AIDS, but against any disease that is of national public concern. When a product is either not available or difficult to obtain, for whatever reason, then the Brazilian government can award special licenses to solve the problem."

Antonio de Conceicao does not concern himself with points of law. But he does know very well that the mercy of others is a matter of life and death for someone in his situation.