In a previous blog post, Els Torreele highlighted the
potential negative
implications of the proposed EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on
access to life-saving medicines for people in the developing world. But what
does this agreement really mean for patients who depend on these medicines?
Meet Loon Gangte of the Delhi Network of Positive People, an
Indian activist living with HIV and hepatitis C, an inspiring leader for people
living with HIV globally, and a dear friend. I had the opportunity to
interview him sometime in between the endless meetings and phone calls he was
having with other activists to mobilize voices against this FTA.
What
does the EU-India Free Trade Agreement mean for you and other people living
with HIV?
People
look at this issue in many ways, but for me, and for people living with HIV, we
see this FTA as a matter of life and death. We know how our lives were before
generic drugs were available. I was diagnosed in 1997 and there were no
medicines available at that time. Life was difficult then. I think about all
the friends I lost unnecessarily because they didn`t have access to treatment.
Only the rich countries and rich people could afford treatment. It was survival
of the richest.
If this
FTA goes through, with provisions to strengthen intellectual property
protections like data exclusivity as part of the deal, then we will be going
back to the pre-2000 era, and most of us will not be able to afford new
treatments and neither will our governments. Eventually we will die. We see the
European Union as trying to cut our lifeline.
The
EU continues to argue that the proposed agreement will not have a negative
impact on India`s ability to produce generic drugs. What is your response
to that?
Who are
they trying to fool?! On the one hand they say they are committed to access to
treatment and that they won`t do anything to block generic production in India,
but on the other hand, they push for data exclusivity. We received a letter
from the EU explaining how data exclusivity is good for us because it will lead
to greater innovation. But we have already seen in other developing countries
that this is not true, and that strengthening the patent system and data
exclusivity specifically does not promote innovation, and prevents the
availability of generics [see U.S.-Jordan
FTA and Central
America Free Trade Agreement].
Those
who will suffer are people like us who rely on generic drugs to live. For the
pharmaceutical industry, data exclusivity is even better than pushing for
patent extension and will lead to greater monopoly.
How
about the World Health Organization or funders of HIV drugs like the Global
Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria? Are they concerned too?
The
director of the Global Fund has written to the Indian delegation and the WHO
has written a position statement on the issue. So yes, they share our concern.
But in practice, they are simply being careful with the EU because those
countries are their big donors and it`s too political.
What
have you and civil society groups been doing to try and fight this FTA?
Overall,
the FTA is being negotiated behind closed doors between trade diplomats with no
parliamentarians or civil society in the room to represent our concerns. We`ve
staged many protests in India, and some of us were arrested. There have
been protests all over the world because this FTA will impact everyone living
with HIV in developing countries. Most of the developing world is dependent on
India for affordable medicines.
We felt
really optimistic when we managed to get the Ministry of Health and the
Ministry of Commerce & Industry on our side, but then we discovered over
Christmas that the prime minister`s office has been
lobbied directly and will overrule all of his cabinet ministers on
this decision and wants to finalize the deal. I`m feeling really discouraged
now…anything can happen. We will be holding a global day of action against the
EU-India FTA on March 2, and we want everyone to take part!
Honestly,
it`s like an ant fighting an elephant. We are one of the weakest and poorest
groups and they (the EU and the pharmaceutical industry) are among the richest
and strongest. The EU and the U.S. are pushing the interests of international
pharmaceutical companies. They are listening to the pharma lobbyists. They don`t
care if we live or die.
But we
will fight tooth and nail! We are simply trying to save our lives and we have
nothing to lose. If this FTA goes through then we are already dead. We have
come too far and have seen too many people die to go back to the days without
affordable treatment. We will fight until the end!
For people living with HIV, this is a matter of life and
death. But for those of us in the West who may feel far removed from this
battle, we need to ask ourselves whether it is right that trade deals with the
potential to impact the health of millions of people in developing countries
should be decided behind closed doors? Or whether an agreement that is
hailed by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations
as “ambitious”
and “a significant opportunity” will indeed safeguard the life and health
of the poor?