Jackson's bill would forbid the Clinton administration to retaliate against any African country that tried to use certain trade provisions to obtain cheaper AIDS drugs. Health and consumer groups have criticized the Clinton administration for pressuring developing countries on behalf of drug companies to abandon trade approaches that could help them obtain cheaper medications. Drug makers and U.S. officials say the trade powers these countries might use violate patent rights and would hurt companies' ability to invest in future AIDS drugs. The trade powers include compulsory licensing and parallel importing. The first, legal under World Trade Organization rules, allows countries to grant a local company authority to make cheaper, generic versions of drugs even while the products are still protected by patents.
Parallel imports let countries buy drugs through third parties at lower prices.
A drug industry spokesman said pharmaceutical companies opposed compulsory licenses to protect patents on AIDS drugs that cost hundreds of millions of dollars apiece to develop. The disputed trade powers have become a rallying point for AIDS groups that say the gap is growing between those who can afford medications and those who cannot. ACT UP Philadelphia told the rally. Sponsored by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Drug companies and trade officials argue, however, that compulsory licensing and parallel importing could violate patent rights and could hamper companies' research and development of new drugs.