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GUATEMALANS PAY MORE AS COURT DEALS BLOW TO GENERICS.

Article Excerpt
Recent decisions in Guatemala and the region will do much to ensure that the poor and the sick will stay that way if the intervening variable is access to medicines. The most recent of these decisions was a legal one: the Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC) of Guatemala ruled in August that Decree 9-2003, reforming the Ley de Propiedad Industrial, is unconstitutional. The decree would have changed the law to remove a prohibition against the sale of generic medicines in the country. Opponents argued that a law against selling these drugs violated constitutional guarantees of protection of the person, of life, and of the obligation of the state regarding public health and social assistance. Supporters of striking down the prohibition, who included President Oscar Berger and the attorney general, argued the law discriminates against the poor because the difference between prices of generic and branded drugs is often around 80%.

The CC ruled, "Those who make extensive and costly investments in research and development of new medications have the right to rely on the legal measures that permit them to recover those unavoidable costs incurred and to stop third parties, without their authorization, from benefiting directly or indirectly from the results of those...

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