The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Sunday News Reporter
ZIMBABWE has begun exploring ways of manufacturing anti-retroviral drugs locally amid indications that cheaper supplies of the drugs from India will soon dry up.
India is expected to stop making generic ARVs as its 20-year monopoly to produce the lifesaving drugs that are patented in other countries is expected to expire at the end of this year.
From 2017 countries like India and others that were manufacturing generic ARVs are expected to be compliant to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Under the TRIPS agreement, when new medicines are discovered, the owners of the medicine will take out a patent on it.
This is a legal entitlement which will grant the owners a monopoly of 20 years to manufacture, market, distribute and license to other parties under royalty.
Under the TRIPS agreement countries can issue compulsory licensing for the production or importation of generic medicines without the consent of the patent holder.
Head of the Aids and TB unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Owen Mugurungi however, allayed fears of Zimbabwe being affected by the development in India.
Dr Mugurungi was speaking on the sidelines of a media tour of the Midlands Province that was organised by the National Aids Council (NAC).
He said Zimbabwe will take advantage of the flexibility of the TRIPS agreement to compulsorily license the drugs for local production.
“Countries that don’t have the capacity to produce generics have a window to compulsorily license those medicines.
Remember in this country in 2004 we issued a compulsory licence to Varicem to manufacture ARVs. So we will be working with local pharmaceuticals and together with the Indian manufacturers and others to see whether we can compulsorily license for local manufacturing. It is not really a bad situation, but we will be producing those drugs locally for local consumption. So we will get the partnership with those people from outside to work with us on producing those drugs locally,” he said.
Dr Mugurungi said local manufacturing of ARVs will come with a lot of advantages, among them cost management, reduced procurement logistical challenges and guaranteed availability of the medicine.
“We hope that the costs will be competitive and it will not be very expensive than getting them from India.
“The other advantage is when you get things locally the issues about the challenges of logistics of importing where normally it takes about three months to import the drugs it will take you just one week. When the drugs are manufactured locally they will be readily available,” he said.
Dr Mugurungi said Zimbabwe has enough stocks of ARVs for the next 12 months, should India stop manufacturing generic ARVs.
He said during the 12 month period the country would be able to explore various options to respond to the situation.
If India fully implements the patent option it will cost more than $10 000 per year per patient to access treatment. Zimbabwe is accessing most of its ARVs, for example the Aids triple therapy, at an average of $200 per patient per year. Experts have called on the country to start looking at HIV and Aids as a potential lever for economic growth than an expense.
Zimbabwe imports about 80 percent of its anti-retroviral drugs from India, a situation the experts say was benefiting foreign companies. The country lost out on an opportunity to make billions of dollars through the manufacture of antiretrovirals and other drugs for both the local and regional markets after turning down a World Health Organisation request to manufacture antiretrovirals and other drugs for both local and Sadc markets.
Despite having been given the green light to manufacture antiretrovirals and other drugs by the WHO under the Doha Declaration of 2001, the country failed to take up the opportunity citing capital constraints.
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