CORPORATE DRUG PEDDLERS RAKING IT IN

It's been said that the international drug war has only succeeded in hiking
drug prices and producing windfall wealth for massive, ruthless cartels
that now have the power to sway weak governments.

I couldn't agree more. The kind of TRIPS I'm talking about, however, are legal.

Under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement
at the World Trade Organization, pharmaceutical drug companies have grown
immensely powerful and wealthy at the expense of the poor and sick across
the globe. The TRIPS gives drug companies a minimum 20-year patent
protection on drugs they develop, often by appropriating centuries-old
indigenous knowledge about pharmacological plants. And that's a 20-year
license to print money.

It's the kind of societal mental imbalance that puts profit as our primary
organizing principle, far above public health and welfare. We've seen more
of this at work this week during hearings into Canadian Patent Act changes
to bring our laws into conformity with WTO rulings. The Liberal government,
always happy to comply with international trade bodies at the expense of
Canadians, is turning a blind eye to calls to close legal loopholes that
allow pharmaceutical corporations to artificially extend their patent
protection far beyond the required 20 years.

Canada's biggest-selling drug is an ulcer medication called Losec, which
costs us $350 million a year. The patent for Losec expired in 1999, but its
patent-protected manufacturer is blocking cheaper, generic versions from
hitting the market with frivolous court challenges that automatically allow
them 24-month injunctions against competition. These two-year injunctions
can be invoked if patent infringement is merely alleged - not proven. It's
an invitation to abuse, and the losers are always Canadian patients and our
public health-care system.

Closing this one loophole, in fact, would save at least $100 million on
Losec alone, according to the Canadian Drug Manufacturers Association,
which represents generic-drug makers. Sure, they have a vested interest in
this. But as taxpayers and health-care clients, so do we.

But what is Industry Minister Brian Tobin's response? We must please the
WTO. "We've got to pass this bill by the end of June (the WTO's deadline),"
said Tobin. "I don't think it's possible or practical or wise to try to
open up the broader questions."

It's breathtaking, really. One of the most important issues facing
Canadians must be swept under the carpet because it's not "practical" for
our government to honestly examine the problem. And Tobin can excuse it all
by saying "the WTO made us do it."

Excuse my cynicism, but I can see which horse the pharmaceutical lobby will
be putting its dollars on when the Liberal leadership race finally comes
around.

Another story, this one out of the United States, puts this issue on the
level of absurdity. As the Washington Post reported this week, Eli Lilly
has a hot new pill in its patented pocket that it's marketing for women who
suffer from, ahem, getting their period every month. It's called Sarafem, a
gentle-looking capsule in pink and lavender, and it's being prescribed for
premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

That sounds wonderful, except it's not a new drug at all. Sarafem is
actually Prozac, nothing less, nothing more. But because Prozac's patent
protection expires in August, Eli Lilly's marketing minds got to work and
found a way to extend their protection through simple repackaging. Sarafem
will remain protected until 2007 because it is a new application for the
chemical. Brilliant, I have to admit.

Except there's a catch. The psychiatric profession hasn't yet decided
whether PMDD, as an illness, is actually real. And some wonder whether the
pharmaceutical industry isn't simply finding a way to profit off an old
prejudice: that women suffer from a mental illness once a month.

Welcome to the brave new world order. As a society, we tear our hair out
over mild, but arbitrarily illegal, drugs such as marijuana. Yet when drugs
are being pushed by legal dealers, we line up happily and proudly - cash in
hand - for our dose.

We even countenance the mass doping of schoolchildren with drugs like
Ritalin. And if we adults have an off day, well, there's always Prozac to
make your worries go away.

I hope it's something former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow will look
into after launching his one-man health-care commission this week. I
wouldn't hold my breath that the public interest will be heard in the
avalanche of corporate lobbying that will be directed his way. But
Canadians must speak up in their own defence. Nobody - least of all the
drug pushers among us - is going to do it for us.