PRESS RELEASE For Release: 8th February 2005   Global Campaign Against Indian Patent Amendment (www.gcaipa.org)   26 February, Global Day of Action against “TRIPS +”, the Indian Patent Ordinance    “We call February 26, 2005, the Global Day of Action.”   “We call it the Anti-Patents day for drugs”   “We call the day we refuse to be taken for granted by the Price-Setters, Institutions and Governments.”   “We call February 26, 2005, Our day to Say “We fight for our right to health.” Our life should not be held at premium against our ability to pay”   “No to patented, expensive drugs, Yes to generic, affordable drugs. Yes to Life!”   “We say “NO” to patent amendments in India. We say “YES” to our sense of justice and humanity – roll back the patent amendments.”   February 26, 2005 has been named a day of international protest against the actions of the Government of India. People around the world are calling to question the humaneness of a patent modification that permits the private sector to profit from public health. The Indian Patent Ordinance prescribes “TRIPS-PLUS” standards, which takes the country beyond the commitments agreed to under the TRIPS agreement. Instead there is a roll back of the most progressive P patents Act in developing countries. The Patent act has fostered the pharmaceutical industry in India, provided affordable medication to millions within India and the rest of the developing world. As of December 26, 2005, by Presidential Ordinance, the patent Act has been modified; we now face Product Patent protection for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals in India.   While Article 7 & 8 of TRIPS allows for contrary national regulation in the interest of public health, the government of India has not heard or interpreted the TRIPS regulation in this perspective. The rest of the world is not silent and will speak out on February 26, 2005. Consider an extreme example, more than 5 million people in India are living with HIV and 0.5 million of these need immediate anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. Only 0.44 million people living with HIV in all developing countries currently have access to ARV treatment. This access has been greatly facilitated by the Indian generic pharmaceutical companies bringing down prices of medicines by drastically. Presently, Indian generic manufacturers export generic medicines to over 200 countries.   The same is the case with other ailments like cancer, cardiovascular diseases etc. For instance, the anti-cancer drug Gleevec costs $2500 per month while generic version of the same is available at $250 per month in India. An Exclusive Marketing Right (EMR) that has been granted to Novartis A.G., the manufacturer of Gleevec, is already threatening availability of the generic drugs.    The Ordinance provides patent protection to agro-chemicals and fertilisers enabling the companies to charge monopoly prices. High costs of pesticides will result in costlier foodgrains and will negatively hit consumers, especially the poor. The Ordinance also brings software under the purview of patent protection furthering the digital divide.   Public interest groups and trade unions are holding a mass protest on 26 February 2005 against the Patent (Amendment) Ordinance.   Global Coalition against the Indian Patent Amendment believes that India has a duty to place public health concerns and access to medicines for people over the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies. Public interest groups in India are gravely concerned that the Ordinance will trade away India’s right to protect public health including availability of low-cost, quality generic medicines. In other words, accepting the Ordinance will have the effect of losing even the minimum space available within the TRIPS agreement to protect health.   We call upon like-minded groups and individuals all over the world to observe a Global Day of Action (GDA) on 26 February 2005 to demand access to generic drugs in India and elsewhere. In the past, such actions resulted in major victories and forced pharmaceutical companies to drop suits against the South African government (March 2001) and also compelled the US to change its decision to approach the WTO Dispute Settlement Body against Brazil (June 2001). We hope this time too, people’s unity will win over corporate power and  force the government of India to replace the Ordinance with the new Bill and to tackle the public health concerns in India and elsewhere.     Public interest groups and individuals all over the world are requested to hold protests in the form of rallies, marches and vigils against the Patents Ordinance. Groups can also formally convey their protest to the Indian embassies and consulates. A website is being created to coordinate the activities and facilitate sharing of information on GDA (www.gcaipa.org). The website www.gcaipa.org would be accessible to the public from 0900 hrs GMT on 09.02.2005   In Solidarity   Global Coalition against the Indian Patent Amendment (GCAIPA) GCAIPA is an informal network of groups and individuals that are working to ensure access to treatment, food, information, etc. There are many more organisations and individuals behind this campaign and lot more are joining. So the contact list presented below is just to facilitate communication in various regions.   Contact Persons :   Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign (AMTC) C/o Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit 2nd Floor, 7/10, Botawalla Building, Horniman Circle, Fort, Mumbai 400 023, India Telephone: + 91-22-22630889            Fax: + 91-22-22702563 Email: amtc_india@yahoo.co.in Contact person: K M Gopakumar         Mobile: +91 9819140881     National Working Group on Patent Laws A-388, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi-110 044, India Telephone: +91-11-26947403             Fax: +91 –11-26813311 Email: wgkeayla@del6.vsnl.net.in Contact person: B K Keayla                 Mobile: +91 9811143191   People's Health Movement Secretariat (Global) C/o Community Health Cell, # 367, "Srinivasa Nilaya", Jakkasandra I Main, I Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 034, India Telephone: + 91-80-25531518            Fax: + 91-80–25525372 Email: secretariat@phmovement.org    Contact person: Prasanna Saligram       Mobile: + 91 9845518382   Association For India’s Development and Insaaf International, Maryland, USA Vineeta Gupta Email: guptahr@yahoo.com