AMTC

INTRODUCTION OF AMTC

The Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign (AMTC) was convened in 2001 by the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, as the inequity in access to lifesaving AIDS treatment was becoming an issue of growing global outrage. Prior to 2001, the costs of triple-combination antiretroviral therapy were prohibitive - upwards of USD 10,000 per person per year - thus creating an unjust gap between those for whom HIV/AIDS had become a lifelong, but treatable chronic condition and those in the developing world, for whom AIDS remained a certain death sentence.

It was not until the entry of affordable generic antiretroviral medicines manufactured by Indian companies in 2001 that large-scale treatment for AIDS for those of us living in the developing world became a realistic possibility. Indian companies were able to manufacture AIDS medicines and other essential drugs at a fraction of the cost of the multinational pharmaceutical companies from the West primarily due to the fact that India

did not recognise product patent protection for pharmaceuticals. As a result, Indian generic companies became, and remain today, the largest supplier of low-cost generic medicines throughout the developing world. With India's entry into the World Trade Organisation in 1995, however, all this was due to change.

Given until 1 January 2005 to come into compliance with the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), the Indian Parliament enacted the Patents (Amendment) Act of 2005, introducing product patent protection for pharmaceuticals. With this act, the ability of the Indian pharmaceutical industry to continue providing affordable medicines in India and throughout the developing world was placed in jeopardy.

Given this legal environment, AMTC has undertaken several initiatives to ensure that patent protection does not come at the cost of human lives. AMTC, in collaboration with various patients rights groups, have filed numerous patent oppositions against key drugs, including Novartis's patent application for Gleevec, which is the subject of an ongoing legal struggle in the Indian courts. Further AMTC identifies the patent status of essential drugs in the 'mail box'. Additionally, AMTC has made submissions to government advocating for stringent patentability criteria to ensure that frivolous patents are not granted on medicines. In response to intense bilateral pressure from the United States government to introduce data exclusivity - a provision designed to delay the entry of affordable generic medicines - AMTC has undertaken extensive advocacy with the public, the media and government to point out the impact of data exclusivity on access to medicines. Finally, AMTC has been engaging with the government regarding appropriate price control mechanisms to ensure that even patented medicines do not become unaffordable.

AMTC periodically publishes a newsletter, called Access, which updates stakeholders on the latest developments in the struggle for access to affordable medicines.