Universal AIDS Treatment by 2010: Broken Promises and International Intellectual Property Policies

• Author: Amelia Hirst
• Position: J.D., The University of Iowa College of Law, 2012; B.A., Vassar College, 2004
• Pages: 227-250

Universal AIDS Treatment by 2010: Broken Promises and

International Intellectual Property Policies

Amy Hirst

∗

I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 227

II. THE AIDS CRISIS ........................................................................... 228

III. INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW .......................... 230

IV. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRADE ALTERNATIVES ......................... 234

A. Parallel Importing ................................................................ 234

B. Tiered Pricing ....................................................................... 235

C. Bulk Procurement ................................................................ 236

D. Voluntary Donation .............................................................. 237

E. Post-Patent Generic Drugs .................................................... 238

F. Combining Alternatives ........................................................ 239

V. UNITED STATES' POLICIES AND PRACTICES ................................... 241

A. The United States and South Africa ..................................... 243

B. The United States and Brazil ................................................ 244

C. The United States and Argentina ......................................... 245

D. The United States and India ................................................. 247

E. The United States and Thailand .......................................... 248

VI. CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 249

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2009, approximately 1.3 million children un der the age of fifteen were

diagnosed with HIV in low- and middle-income countries, and fewer than

400,000 of those children were receiving antiretroviral therapy. 1 In almost a

quarter of African countries, at least 10 percent of children under the age of

eighteen have lost one or both parents to AIDS.2 In Sub-Saharan A frica, the

average life expectancy is only f ifty-two years, largely because of the AIDS

∗ J.D., The University of Iowa College of Law, 2012; B.A., Vassar College, 2004.

1 Paediatric HIV Data and Statistics , WORLD HEALTH ORG., http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/

paediatric/data/en/index1.html (last visited May 18, 2012).

2 UNICEF, CHILDREN AND AIDS: THIRD STOCKTAKING REPORT, 2008, 21 (2008), available at

http://www.who.int/entity/hiv/pub/catsr_2008_en.pdf.

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epidemic.3 These n umbers persist desp ite the fact that scie ntists have

developed antiretroviral therapies over the past three decades that “can turn

AIDS from a death sentence into a chronic illness,” and these treatments

have been available since 2002. 4 Still the question re mains: given that

medicines are available, why did appr oximately two million people die of th e

disease in 2008,5 and why does the number of global deaths keep increasing?6

This Note will discuss how mode rn international intellectual property

regimes and practices have inte rfered with patient access to vit al medications

in places with the most desperate need. Part II of this Note will explain the

development of the global HIV/AIDS crisis and d iscuss the Millennium

Development Goals, which the United Nations (“U.N.”) propagated to combat

the situation. Part III will discuss so me of the intricacies of internat ional

patent law, including the development of the Agreement on Trade-Related

Aspects of Intellectual Prope rty Rights (“TRIPS”) in the World Trade

Organization (“WTO”) and the use of compulsory licensing to provide greater

access to patented medications in developing countries. In Part IV, this Note

will examine the United States’ policies to wards international intellectual

property law in relation to HIV/AIDS drug patents, highlighting sp ecific

instances involving South Africa, Brazil, A rgentina, India, and Thailand.

Part V will discuss various alternatives that co uld provide greater access to

medications without the use of compulsory licenses. Finally, Part VI will

conclude that use of compulsory lic enses is vital to combating th e global AIDS

crisis and that the United States must be more supportive of developing

nations’ use of compulsory licenses in combination with other methods if the

goal of global access to medications is to be achieved.

II. THE AIDS CRISIS

Since the discovery and classificatio n in 1981 of the disease that came to

be known as AIDS,7 more than twenty-five million people have died o f HIV

related causes.8 An estim ated thirty-five million people m ay be living with

AIDS today.9 The vast majority of these people live in Sub-Saharan Africa,

3 HIV and AIDS in Africa, AVERT, http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-africa.htm (last visited May 18,

2012).

4 William J. Clinton, AIDS Is Not a Death Sentence, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 1, 2002,

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/01/opinion/aids -is-not-a-death-sentence.html.

5 Global Epidemic Data and Statistics, WORLD HEALTH ORG., http://www.who.int/hiv/data/

global_data/en/index.html (last visited May 18, 2012) (proceed to tab 3).

6 Id. (proceed to tab 2).

7 The Global H IV/AIDS Timeline, KAISER FAMILY FOUND., http://www.kff.org/hivaids/timeline/

hivtimeline.cfm (last visited May 18, 2012).

8 Press Release, USAID, After 25 Million Deaths, Search Continues for HIV Vaccine (May 2010),

available at http://www.usaid.gov/pr ess/frontlines/fl_may10/p05_hiv100510.html.

9 Global HIV/AIDS Timeline, supra note 7.