31 May - 6 June 2001
Issue No.536
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 May - 6 June 2001 Issue No.536 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
A bleak prognosis
In the year 2005 only privileged Egyptians -- and they are remarkably few in number -- will be able to afford medicines produced to the highest standards, i.e. drugs manufactured by the big multinational pharmaceutical companies. Prices are likely to start at around $100 for standard treatments -- for anything non-standard the cost will spiral. "The majority of Egyptians, on the other hand, will remain either without treatment, or will avail themselves of what are essentially cheap but ineffectual drugs that will fail to bring them the benefits of the latest scientific research".
This shocking prediction was made by the chairman of an Egyptian pharmaceuticals company a few weeks ago on television.
The scenario he outlined will begin, he argued, in 2005, when GATT ordained Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) come into force and Egyptian companies will no longer be able to copy medicines developed by foreign companies.
Sadly, Egypt's pharmaceuticals sector has never really been able to capitalise on the position where, for almost half a century, it was able to provide the public with reasonably priced drugs. Even at the height of the socialist era, government awareness of the strategic importance of locally producing affordable medicines meant that local drug companies escaped nationalisation, while foreign companies continued to operate in Egypt through joint-ventures. Pfizer, Ciba-Geigy and Swiss Pharma all became household names in the sixties. Indeed Pfizer continued to be listed on the Egyptian stock exchange throughout its two decade long hibernation. Now, though, WTO directives are threatening to extinguish the local industry.
When, three and a half years ago, representatives of multinational drug companies arrived in Egypt in an attempt to pressure the government into implementing patent laws before the grace period allowed for developing countries, they were met, and justifiably so, with a blank refusal. Government officials argued, and correctly so, that national companies needed time to prepare themselves for future competition by developing their research and development capabilities. Since then, unfortunately, what appeared to be a clear strategy has descended into chaos. Nor was it ever really likely that during the grace period the local industry would be able to find the massive budgets needed to finance the kind of research that would have ensured their competitivity in a liberalised international market.
Local companies will soon face a situation in which they will be obliged to pay royalties to foreign companies in return for obtaining the right to manufacture patented medicines, a cost which will inevitably be passed on to the consumer.
Instead of being motivated to rise to the challenges they will inevitably face, the fact is that local companies have in many instances been weakened further by being allowed to violate the commitment undertaken by the Egyptian government, in January 2000, to protect data exclusivity for pharmaceuticals products.
The only redress to this desperate situation would be for the government to belatedly lead an initiative, bringing local companies, public and private, together into an association mandated to formulate the most effective strategies for securing the local production of essential medicines and to undertake the feasibility studies necessary to identify the comparative advantages of the local industry.
Yet despite the urgent need for action, apathy remains paramount. As long as this continues, no extension of the transitional grace period will prevent the Egyptian public from eventually being deprived of that most basic of needs, affordable medicine.
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