Ellen 't Hoen: Pool medical patents, save lives

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Myra Wang 校对人员: Cherish Xing

In 2002, a group of treatment activists met

2002年，一群医疗活动分子相聚在一起

to discuss the early development of the airplane.

讨论飞机的早期发展问题。

The Wright Brothers, in the beginning of the last century,

在上个世纪初，

had for the first time managed

怀特兄弟第一次成为

to make one of those devices fly.

让飞行器上天的人

They also had taken out numerous patents

他们当然也获得了众多

on essential parts of the airplane.

飞机主要部件的专利

They were not the only ones.

不过他们并不是唯一的专利人

That was common practice in the industry,

这是工业界的惯例

and those who held patents on airplanes

那些飞机专利的持有者

were defending them fiercely

便极力维护

and suing competitors left and right.

甚至投诉周围的竞争对手

This actually wasn't so great for the development of the aviation industry,

这一举动对航空工业的发展并没有好处

and this was at a time that in particular the U.S. government

而且当时正是美国政府

was interested in ramping up

意在扩大

the production of military airplanes.

军用飞机生产的时候

So there was a bit of a conflict there.

所以冲突也就不可避免

The U.S. government decided to take action,

美国政府随即采取行动

and forced those patent holders

迫使那些专利持有者们

to make their patents available to share with others

和他人共享专利

to enable the production of airplanes.

从而保障飞机的生产

So what has this

那么我说的这件事情

got to do with this?

与现在要提到的这个有什么关系呢？

In 2002, Nelson Otwoma, a Kenyan social scientist,

在2002年，一位叫尼尔森.奥特沃玛的肯尼亚社会学家

discovered he had HIV and needed access to treatment.

发现自己携带艾滋病病毒并需要治疗。

He was told that a cure did not exist.

但被告知这种病不可医治。

AIDS, he heard, was lethal,

他听说艾滋病是致命的,也是无药可救的。

and treatment was not offered. This was at a time

但当时的事实是

that treatment actually existed in rich countries.

在发达国家，疗法是存在的。

AIDS had become a chronic disease.

艾滋病被视为慢性疾病。

People in our countries here in Europe, in North America,

像在欧洲、北美的国家

were living with HIV, healthy lives.

艾滋病毒携带者同样可以健康地生活。

Not so for Nelson. He wasn't rich enough,

但对尼尔森来说却不行，因为他不够富有，

and not so for his three-year-old son, who he discovered a year later

他3岁的儿子在一年后也被诊断携带艾滋病病毒，

also had HIV.

同样得不到医治。

Nelson decided to become a treatment activist

尼尔森就此决定成为医疗活动分子

and join up with other groups.

并加入此类组织。

In 2002, they were facing a different battle.

他们在2002年遇到了不同的困境

Prices for ARVs, the drugs needed to treat HIV,

用于治疗艾滋病毒的抗逆转录病毒ARV的价格

cost about 12,000 [dollars] per patient per year.

约为每个患者每年一万两千美元。

The patents on those drugs were held

持有这种药品专利的

by a number of Western pharmaceutical companies

若干西方医药公司

that were not necessarily willing

却并不愿意

to make those patents available.

分享其专利。

When you have a patent, you can exclude

持有专利的公司，便可以把其它的任何公司

anyone else from making, from producing or making

排除在以低廉价格

low-cost versions, for example,

生产和制作

available of those medications.

这类的药品的范围之外

Clearly this led to patent wars breaking out

当然这也就导致专利大战

all over the globe.

在全球展开。

Luckily, those patents did not exist everywhere.

幸运的是，此类专利并不是到处都有

There were countries that did not recognize

很多国家并不认可

pharmaceutical product patents, such as India,

制药产品专利，拿印度来说，

and Indian pharmaceutical companies

印度的制药公司

started to produce so-called generic versions,

已开始生产所谓的通用(非专利)配方，

low-cost copies of antiretroviral medicines,

也就是廉价的抗逆转录病毒药品的复制品

and make them available in the developing world,

以供发展中国家使用

and within a year the price had come down

在一年之内，该药品的价格从

from 10,000 dollars per patient per year

每个患者每年一万美元

to 350 dollars per patient per year,

降到了350美元每个患者每年

and today that same triple pill cocktail

直至今天，同样的三联疗法

is available for 60 dollars per patient per year,

售价仅为每个患者每年60美元

and of course that started to have an enormous effect

这当然对于众多

on the number of people who could afford access

可以买得起此类药品的人

to those medicines.

意义深重。

Treatment programs became possible,

治疗方案从此得以实施

funding became available, and the number of people

基金到位，使用抗逆转录病毒药品的人数

on antiretroviral drugs started to increase very rapidly.

也迅速增加

Today, eight million people

今天，已有八百万人

have access to antiretroviral drugs.

可以使用抗逆转录病毒药物

Thirty-four million are infected with HIV.

现有三十四万人感染艾滋病病毒

Never has this number been so high,

这一数据史无前例

but actually this is good news,

不过这也是好消息

because what it means is people stop dying.

因为它表明患者的死亡率下降了

People who have access to these drugs stop dying.

买得起这类药品的人不再被判处死刑

And there's something else.

更好的是

They also stop passing on the virus.

他们可以杜绝病毒的传播

This is fairly recent science that has shown that.

这是最新的科学研究显示的

What that means is we have the tools

这意味着我们掌握了

to break the back of this epidemic.

防止这种传染性疾病的方法

So what's the problem?

那还有哪些问题存在呢？

Well, things have changed.

今非昔比啊

First of all, the rules have changed.

首先，规定改变了

Today, all countries are obliged to provide

各个国家都有责任向制药公司提供

patents for pharmaceuticals that last at least 20 years.

至少20年的专利使用权

This is as a result of the intellectual property rules

这是世界贸易组织对知识产权规则

of the World Trade Organization.

改变的结果

So what India did is no longer possible.

因此印度的做法也就不再成为可能

Second, the practice of patent-holding companies have changed.

其次，专利持有公司的惯例也得到改变

Here you see the patent practices

在这里你可以看到在世界贸易组织知识产权规则之前

before the World Trade Organization's rules, before '95,

95年之前

before antiretroviral drugs.

抗逆转录病毒药品出现之前的数据

This is what you see today,

这是今天的数据

and this is in developing countries, so what that means is,

这是发展中国家的数据，也就是说

unless we do something deliberate

除非我们刻意去做

and unless we do something now,

除非我们现在就改变

we will very soon be faced with another drug price crisis,

我们不久就会面临又一个药品价格危机

because new drugs are developed,

因为新药得以研发

new drugs go to market, but these medicines are patented

投入市场，而药品的专利

in a much wider range of countries.

在更广泛的国家范围得以注册

So unless we act, unless we do something today,

如果我们当下不采取措施

we will soon be faced [with] what some have termed

我们将很快面临人们所说的

the treatment time bomb.

医疗定时炸弹

It isn't only the number of drugs that are patented.

我说的不仅是专利药品的数量

There's something else that can really scare

还有很多因素会使

generic manufacturers away.

通用(非专利)药品制造商望而却步

This shows you a patent landscape.

这是一个专利的分布图

This is the landscape of one medicine.

它仅代表一种药品

So you can imagine that if you are a generic company

假想你是一个通用药品制造商

about to decide whether to invest

要决定是否投资

in the development of this product, unless you know

开发该药品

that the licenses to these patents

除非你有把握

are actually going to be available,

得到其专利许可证

you will probably choose to do something else.

你可能会三思而后行

Again, deliberate action is needed.

所以我强调，我们需要行动

So surely

所以假如

if a patent pool could be established

我们真的可以建立一个专利库

to ramp up the production of military airplanes,

来扩大军用飞机的生产

we should be able to do something similar

我们同样可以

to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

解决艾滋病病毒/艾滋病的传播

And we did.

而且我们做到了

In 2010, UNITAID established the Medicines Patent Pool

2010年，国际药品采购机制成立了艾滋病病毒

for HIV.

医药专利库

And this is how it works:

它是这样运作的:

Patent holders, inventors

专利持有者，发明者

that develop new medicines

对其发明的新药

patent those inventions,

申请专利保护

but make those patents available

但将这些药品专利

to the Medicines Patent Pool. The Medicines Patent Pool

与药品专利库共享

then license those out to whoever needs access to those patents.

再把许可证发放给需要使用该专利的人

That can be generic manufacturers.

比如通用药品制造商

It can also be not-for-profit drug development agencies,

也可以是非营利性药品开发代理商

for example.

等等

Those manufacturers can then sell those medicines

这些制造商则将这些药品或治疗方案

at much lower cost to people who need access to them,

以更加低廉的价格

to treatment programs that need access to them.

出售给任何需要的患者

They pay royalties over the sales to the patent holders,

他们给专利持有者支付专利使用费

so they are remunerated for sharing their intellectual property.

作为共享知识产权的报酬

There is one key difference

这件事与飞机专利库的

with the airplane patent pool.

关键区别在于

The Medicines Patent Pool is a voluntary mechanism.

药品专利库是自发机制

The airplane patent holders were not left a choice

飞机专利持有者没有权利选择

whether they'd license their patents or not.

是否提供专利许可证

They were forced to do so.

他们的行为是被迫的

That is something that the Medicines Patent Pool cannot do.

这在药品专利库则不能实行的

It relies on the willingness of pharmaceutical companies

我们需要依赖制药公司的自发性

to license their patents and make them available

为他人提供并分享

for others to use.

他们的专利使用权

Today, Nelson Otwoma is healthy.

今天，尼尔森恢复了健康

He has access to antiretroviral drugs.

他可以买到抗逆转录病毒药物

His son will soon be 14 years old.

他的儿子也很快年满14岁

Nelson is a member of the expert advisory group

尼尔森成为了一个药品专利库

of the Medicines Patent Pool,

专家咨询小组的成员

and he told me not so long ago,

不久前他告诉我

"Ellen, we rely in Kenya and in many other countries

“艾伦，在肯尼亚和其他很多国家

on the Medicines Patent Pool to make sure

我们依赖药品专利库，

that new medicines also become available to us,

保障我们也能得到新的药品

that new medicines, without delay, become available to us."

而且能在第一时间得到新的药品”

And this is no longer fantasy.

这已不再是幻想

Already, I'll give you an example.

我这就给你举个例子吧

In August of this year, the United States drug agency

今年的八月，美国药品代理商

approved a new four-in-one AIDS medication.

通过了一种新的四合一的艾滋病药物

The company, Gilead, that holds the patents,

持有该专利的吉利德公司

has licensed the intellectual property to the Medicines Patent Pool.

就把知识产权共享给了药品专利库

The pool is already working today, two months later,

专利库已经开始工作，两个月后，

with generic manufacturers to make sure that this product

就会有仿制药品制作商保证

can go to market at low cost

将该产品以低价

where and when it is needed. This is unprecedented.

及时并准确地推向需求市场

This has never been done before.

这是前所未有的。

The rule is about a 10-year delay for a new product

通常情况下，一种新药在发展中国家要等10年

to go to market in developing countries, if at all.

才成为可能并最终上市

This has never been seen before.

这是前所未有的。

Nelson's expectations are very high,

尼尔森的期望很高

and quite rightly so. He and his son will need access

这理所应当

to the next generation of antiretrovirals

他和儿子需要下一代的抗逆转录病毒药物

and the next, throughout their lifetime,

再下一代，甚至一生

so that he and many others in Kenya and other countries

所以他和众多肯尼亚和其他国家的人

can continue to live healthy, active lives.

可以继续过健康积极的生活

Now we count on the willingness of drug companies

我们当下需要依靠药品公司的自发行为

to make that happen. We count on those companies

实现这一愿望

that understand that it is in the interest, not only in the interest

我们期望这些公司意识到这不仅符合

of the global good, but also in their own interest,

全球福利的需要，也符合他们自己的利益

to move from conflict to collaboration,

通过药品专利库

and through the Medicines Patent Pool they can make that happen.

化冲突为合作

They can also choose not to do that,

当然他们也可以拒绝

but those that go down that road may end up

不过拒绝的结果可能会导致类似

in a similar situation the Wright brothers ended up with

怀特兄弟在上个世纪所面临的处境

early last century, facing forcible measures

那就是政府的强迫政策

by government. So they'd better jump now.

所以我提议现在就加入吧

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢（鼓掌）