NEW DELHI, March 2 (Kyodo) - More than 2,000 HIV-positive people from India and other Asian nations marched in New Delhi to demand the Indian government reject provisions on pharmaceuticals in the India-European Union free trade agreement.

They asked the Indian government, which is in FTA holding in Brussels, to stand against pressure from the European Union to accept provisions that would restrict access to affordable medicine.

"The FTA is being done on the back of people of India. The (United States and European Union) want to do it secretly because they don't want a competitive market in India," Anand Grover, U.N. special rapporteur on Right to Health, said at a press conference after the march.

He said data exclusivity in free trade agreements has proven to be damaging to public health in other countries.

"It would be a colossal mistake to introduce date exclusivity in India when millions of people across the globe depend on India as the pharmacy of the developing world," he said.

The organizers of the march accused the European Union of pushing for intellectual property provisions in the FTA that exceed international trade rules.

They said data exclusivity would act like a patent and block generic versions from the market, making low-cost medicines unavailable to the HIV positive.

Loon Gangte, a representative of Delhi Network of Positive People, said India's patent law has long annoyed multinational companies and drugmakers Novartis and Bayer have even tried to overturn the law in the courts.

He said having failed so far, the companies have now lobbied European governments to take up their fight for pharmaceutical profits.

Rajiv Kafle of Asia Pacific Network of Positive People said patients on the Asian continent rely on affordable medicines to stay alive.

He urged the Indian government not to trade away the lives of HIV patients in the EU-India FTA.

Abou Mere, a representative of the Indian Drug User's Forum, said patients with HIV and hepatitis-C have not been able to get generic versions of medicines because the medicines are patented and cost much more.

"The Indian government and World Health Organization should wake up to the fact that the Convention on Tobacco Control is also under attack in the FTA," Y.K. Sapru of the Cancer Patients Aid Association said.

Indian pharmaceutical companies, which manufacture cheap medicines for HIV patients and cancer and hepatitis-C sufferers have been opposing the India-EU negotiations.

Anand said three ministries—commerce, chemical and fertilizers and health and family welfare—have opposed the FTA.

Date: March 1, 2011
Source: Associated Press