- © 2004 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
Legislation designed to provide developing countries with cheaper drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and other illnesses received royal assent May 14, and is scheduled to take effect this fall.
The legislation — now named the Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa Act — amends the Patent Act and the Food and Drugs Act to allow developing nations to import less expensive generic versions of brand-name patented drugs. Under the new law, the drugs must be used for public health emergencies only, including fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Nongovernmental organizations, including Médecins Sans Frontières and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, supported the legislation but decried the narrow list of medications it allows generic companies to manufacture and export. They had asked the federal government not to list medications at all, since getting new drugs on the list is difficult and time-consuming.
In other pre-election developments:
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Funding is doubled for the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS, which will grow over 5 years to $84.4 million annually;
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Canada will contribute $100 million to the WHO's “3 by 5” initiative to treat 3 million people with AIDS by the end of 2005;
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Legislation that would decriminalize marijuana died on the order paper when Martin called the federal election. A new government would have to re-introduce another bill. Separate regulations to ease restrictions on medicinal marijuana will still proceed;
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The Winnipeg arm of the new Public Health Agency will handle infectious disease control and epidemiology; the Ottawa offices will work on emergency planning and efforts to reduce the burden of chronic disease. — Laura Eggertson, CMAJ