VATICAN - Cardinal Lozano Barragan, President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Health Workers and the Sick, speaks about costs of drug therapy

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On his return from Lourdes where as the Pope’s special envoy he presided the main celebrations for the 12th World Day of the Sick, Cardinal Lozano Barragan President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Health Workers and the Sick commented for Fides the question of the cost of drugs for therapy.
“Very often the cost of drugs depends not on the elements used to produce them but rather on the licence which often require much time. Licences are the main problem because they enter the field of private property and are legitimate only of they respect the limits of the private property of which they are part. Namely the patent must be in proportion to the drug. Private property ceases to exist when the circumstances are such that the person demanding the privately possessed good is in extreme need and can only obtain it at a very low cost or free. This is the case of the poorest countries which cannot afford the co-called “AIDS cocktail”.
The World Trade Organisation has dealt at length with the matter, particularly in the section regarding the TRIPS agreement on intellectual property rights and trade. The discussion focussed on drugs which should be considered generic and drugs for which the licence is of no great importance.
The situation is very serious, the President concludes, considering it is a question of laboratory interests, economic interests, profit… It is becoming clear that people with mainly economic interests fail to accept restrictive conditions. But our vision is different because in cases of extreme need all goods are common property.” (AP) (13/2/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:26 Parole:314)