12:17 06.04.2016

Ukraine cannot avoid patent protection and buy medicines at lower prices

2 min read
Ukraine cannot avoid patent protection and buy medicines at lower prices

Ukraine cannot avoid patent protection and have a chance of buying medicines at lower prices, Head of AIDS Healthcare Foundation office in Ukraine Serhiy Fiodorov has told Interfax-Ukraine.

Commenting on the address to the World Bank where AIDS Healthcare Foundation asks to make a public statement that the country classification should not apply to price formation on the pharmaceutical market and to determining the amount of assistance to foreign states, he said that a large number of medicines, particularly, on the HIV/AIDS medicine market, are under patent protection. Countries placed to the Middle Income Countries group cannot avoid it.

"I can take Mexico as an example. This country buys original medicines to treat HIV/AIDS at the price of $2,321. There are generics that can be bought at the price of $143. Mexico is a country of the Middle Income Countries group. The country cannot avoid patent rules and buys the cheaper medicine," he said.

Fiodorov said that this practice is regulated by the WTO rules protecting patent holders.

"If any company produces a medicine, but not the holder of the patent, it cannot sell it to Middle Income Countries, as it is banned from evading patent laws in Middle Income Countries. Generics can be used in these countries if a pharmaceutical company, the holder of the patent, transfers the right to use this medicine," he said.

He said that generics are effective, safe and of high-quality if they passed WHO prequalification.

"There are many fake and low-quality medicines on the market, but we don’t speak about it. We speak about effective, safe and high-quality generics," he said.

Asked about problems with patent law in medicine public procurement, he said that Ukraine today buys medicines, in particular, to treat HIV/AIDS, via international organizations which get permits from patent holders as an exception.

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