an Eldis Resource
US-Andean Free Trade Agreement: Impact on Access to Medicines and Health in Colombia
Promoting generic medicines to lower prices and improve access to medicines in low income countries
Authors:
Germán Holguín
Publisher:
Citizens Trade Campaign, 2005
In Colombia there are about 20 million inhabitants who lack adequate access to medicines, either because they do not belong to any health insurance system or because if they do, they cannot afford to pay out of their own pocket for the medicines the system does not supply to them, which represent about half of the prescription.
This paper, published by the Heath Mission Foundation, analyses the impact of the US-Andean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on access to medicines and health in Colombia. It argues that the most efficient way to lower prices and improve access to medicines in low income countries is by promoting competition of generic medicines. Drawing from available evidence, the author finds that when the patent for a medicine expires, the medicine price falls between 30% and 70%, depending on the number of generics which enter the market.
To maintain the ability of generic medicines to compete in the market in Colombia, the author argues that it is essential to stop the FTA from establishing standards of intellectual property protection that go beyond those established in the WTO since these would cause serious damage to public health in Colombia and other developing countries (and the ensuing economic and social effects).
The author concludes that the debate on the “TRIPS plus” provisions in the US-Andean FTA cannot be seen only as a struggle for market share between the multinational brand-name pharmaceutical companies and the national generics industry but is also a humanitarian problem with huge social and political consequences. Also, the author concludes that the way in which the issue of access to medicines is handled in the US-Andean FTA will in large part determines the future of public health and general welfare in the Andean region. Because access to medicines is a life and death issue involving the right to health, the authors asserts that it is not exchangeable for commercial interests since health is not negotiable.
[adapted from author]
