Republic of Equador President Rafael Correa Speaks on Pharmaceutical Patent Policy
Excerpt:
MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2009
Filed from Portland, Oregon
PRESIDENT CORREA’S POLICY PRESCRIPTION
“I as President can order that we issue a compulsory license for Brand X, so they can copy this medicine and make generics, and the people have access to this medicine, to health, to a cure for their illness. [Applause.] And this is exactly what we are going to begin to do, with respect to medicines, with respect to agrochemicals, with respect to everything possible.”
Rafael CORREA Delgado
July 16, 2009
Context: Rafael Correa is the president of the Republic of Ecuador. First, elected in 2006, President Correa was re-elected as the leader of his country of 14.6 million people in April. The comment above is from a speech he gave this past summer on national television - and before a live audience. That was the speech. On Sunday, October 18, President Correa announced his intention to move forward with a policy of compulsory licensing for pharmaceuticals.
Comments, Part I. There are a number of strands to this story. One thread leads to the Ecuador’s economic policies, especially those involving Ecuador’s dealings with the rest of the world. From the repudiation of debt to the raising of numerous tariffs, these are policies that have gotten the world’s attention.
Another strand links to the WTO tortured discussions and current policies on “access to medicines.” WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has described these policies as a balance between the long-term need to foster innovation and the short term necessity of ensuring that poor countries have access to the medicines they need at prices they can afford to pay.
A third strand, of course, relates to the global discussion of healthcare policy.
Read the rest of the thoughts on President Correa’s pharmaceutical patent policy.
