Hon. Sharon Carstairs:

Honourable senators, the reason I wish to speak to this particular piece of legislation today is that this is the fifth anniversary that Royal Assent was given to the bill establishing Canada's Access to Medicines Regime, CAMR. This bill, unanimously supported by all parties in both houses, addressed the compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals for the purpose of exporting more affordable generic medicines to developing countries. It was a good bill in principle and worthy of the all-party support that it received.

Unfortunately, over the last five years, we have learned to our great disappointment that this law is deeply flawed. As an example of that failure, in five years it has been used only one time. This piece of legislation was supposed to make it possible for those people living in developing countries who lacked the adequate drugs to deal with huge and growing disease problems to be able to obtain those drugs. I believe the intention of everyone was positive, and that is the reason everyone supported it. It is important, therefore, to ask two questions: Why is the present legislation not being used effectively? Why is Bill S-232 needed?

Honourable senators, the United Nations estimated in 2007 that 33 million people worldwide were living with HIV, including 2.5 million children under the age of 15. It was estimated that 95 per cent of these sufferers live in developing nations, and 90 per cent live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Over 8,000 people die of HIV/AIDS each day. That is five persons every single minute. Our chamber would be wiped out in 20 minutes. Think about that; in 20 minutes we would all be gone if we were living in a society where we were infected with HIV/ AIDS, as so many are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Of the estimated 780,000 persons in need of antiretroviral treatment, only 15 per cent of them are on this treatment, and almost all of them live in the developed world. Only 6 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa receive the treatment they need. Yet, early treatment is successful. In South Africa, mortality was reduced by 75 per cent in HIV-infected infants who were treated before they reached 12 weeks of age. Instead of 75 per cent of these children dying before the age of two, they were treated, not cured of the disease but treated, to the point where they could live a normal lifespan.

HIV/AIDS is only one of the diseases for which these drugs are desperately needed. Malaria is another one that is, again, so prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa.

The law as it exists has severe shortcomings. The main shortcoming is that companies making these generic drugs, as well as the developing countries that need these drugs, are reluctant to face the bureaucratic burden of the current law. Organizations have made representations to Parliament, particularly over the last two years, as to how this legislation can be streamlined and simplified.

Today, on the fifth anniversary of this bill having received Royal Assent, 39 organizations released a press release again calling upon this Parliament to change the regulations in this bill. They called their press release, "Dying for lack of medicines in developing countries."

Fortunately, our former colleague, the Honourable Yoine Goldstein, who sadly retired last week because he had reached the magical age of 75, introduced this bill. I assure senators that this bill will not die because Senator Goldstein has retired. I was so impressed with this legislation that I will continue his sponsorship because it is essential that this matter be addressed.

Honourable senators, if this legislation that was passed five years ago had worked, it would not have taken four and a half years for one country, Rwanda, to obtain one drug. That is all we have accomplished with this piece of legislation in five years. One country, Rwanda, received one drug. It happens to be an HIV drug, but we know as a result of another press release put out by Apotex this afternoon, the company that produced the drug that went to Rwanda, that the company is prepared to go to a next step. Apotex has indicated that the company is willing to make a drug that will be more pediatric-sensitive, as many of the drugs already in production are not easily given to children, should this law become simpler.

If we pass Senator Goldstein's bill, we will have the opportunity of moving even a step further. We will now have an additional drug that will be available for pediatric care. This is an extremely good piece of news, as one additional hurdle has been crossed.

The current legislation is layered with restrictions and regulatory requirements that have hindered its usability. Since Canada was one of the first nations to adopt a law of this sort under the patent provisions of the World Trade Organization, I believe Canada should show further global leadership in acknowledging that the current law does not permit rapid response. The law is not flexible and it does not provide a sustainable solution.

Honourable senators, Bill S-232 will address the obstacles placed in the way of delivering these drugs by eliminating the limited list of products that can be made in generic form. The current list makes production of these needed drugs clearly impossible and this list is not required by WTO rules. There are new definitions of pharmaceutical products and patent products in this bill that I speak to today that would provide clarity to these definitions.

Non-governmental organizations, NGOs, will find it easier to purchase generic drugs by eliminating the present restriction found in the current law that they must have permission from importing countries.

Honourable senators, clearly any drug must meet the drug regulatory authority of the country to which it goes. That is a given. We have set another barrier upon which they must cross. It must not just pass their drug regulatory scheme; we must go to them and get an additional permission.

There should be no requirement, for example, for the World Trade Organization to be notified by the recipient country of its intention to purchase these necessary drugs. The World Trade Organization does not require this, so why does the legislation? This is simply another delaying tactic and, in my view, unnecessary.

Honourable senators, this bill before you may not be perfect. Without the resources, government private members' bills often are not. Of course, government bills are often not perfect, either, but there is an added hurdle that must be passed by private members' bills. We simply do not have the staff, as senators, in order to meet every single variable that may exist.

Honourable senators, we are at second reading stage, and this is debate on principle of this bill. If the government has ways to improve this bill, I welcome those changes. What is not acceptable, honourable senators, is doing nothing, and nothing has been the response to date. Frankly, it is not good enough.

I conclude, honourable senators, by reminding you that during this speech, if I have used my 15 minutes — and I do not think I have — but if I had used my 15 minutes, 75 people would have died from HIV/AIDS. We could prevent many of these deaths by making these drugs more accessible to developing nations. These are human beings. These are our fellow world citizens. They deserve our help and support for this legislation.

Recent Statements from Liberal Senators