Welcome to Pharmaland

Divided into several objectives in its 2019-2024 version (extended until 2028), most of which directly concerns economically weaker countries, the Swiss health foreign policy has been implemented – according to its authors – to meet current challenges in the area of health. An initial agreement containing similar objectives, concluded between the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and its counterpart for Home Affairs, had paved the way for this in 2006. For the first time, the federal authorities wished to listen to the different parties in civil society, in research, and from the private sector before finalizing the new policy. Public Eye was able to express its opinion, in particular concerning the crucial matter of the primacy of human rights over the profit motive. Unfortunately, the contribution was largely in vain, as the final version only includes the remarks made by the various parties during this consultation in a cosmetic way.

Switzerland’s ’great divide’ is nothing new. Whether it is in the context of negotiations on bilateral free-trade agreements or when adopting a position within international organizations, Switzerland struggles to move away from a certain level of ambivalence.

Indeed, it is rare that it adopts clear positions when it involves going against the business model of its pharmaceutical companies, centred on patents.

Frequently aligning with the positions of the European Union or the United States – which also defend the interests of their pharma corporations – Switzerland lacks political courage.

While Switzerland was for a long time a fierce opponent of patents on pharmaceutical products, nowadays it vigorously defends them. Switzerland refuses therefore to allow countries such as India to apply the same “formula” as that which enabled the Basel-based chemical industry to prosper. In fact, at the start of the last century the latter developed significantly by imitating or copycatting medicines produced in neighbouring countries – i.e. by producing generic products. The application of patents to pharmaceutical products was only introduced in Switzerland from the 1970s onwards.

Compulsory licences: an efficient instrument for reducing prices

Patents are one of the main causes of the explosion in the price of drugs. Benefiting from a monopoly and commercial exclusivity, pharmaceutical companies can in effect set prices almost as they wish. The state’s price control mechanisms are inadequate. The real costs of R&D are incidentally one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most closely guarded secrets – the sacrosanct “trade secret” principle is cited at every opportunity to their advantage.

As the country that is home to two pharma giants – Novartis and Roche – Switzerland has a particular responsibility. However, instead of guaranteeing access for everyone to lifesaving medicines, the Swiss authorities prefer to defend the interests of their pharmaceutical industry (which accounts, along with the agro-chemical industry, for nearly half of Swiss exports). In particular, in the context of international negotiations on the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, the Swiss government adopts a restrictive stance and exerts economic and political pressure on countries that try to apply the flexibilities included in these provisions to Swiss medicines.

Thanks to compulsory licences, the Swiss government has significant room for manoeuvre. The use of this legal and legitimate instrument in this “Pharmaland” would make it possible not only to guarantee the sustainability of the Swiss healthcare system, but would also send a clear signal at international level, encouraging other states to do the same. This would pave the way for access to essential medicines for millions of people.