Timeline on Ecuador's Compulsory Licensing

  • June, 2008: A UNAIDS report estimates that only around 42% of Ecuadoreans requiring anti-retroviral therapy actually receive treatment.
     
  • January 22-23, 2009: Civil society groups from across Ecuador, meet in Quito to sign the charter for a new national HIV/AIDS network called REDEVIDA.

  • January 26, 2009: REDEVIDA delivers a letter to the Ministry of Public Health in Ecuador, signed by representatives from nineteen member organizations, declaring their “unconditional and complete support” for a proposal to reduce the price of Abbott Laboratories’ patented lopinavir/ritonavir, Kaletra, through open licensing.

  • July 16, 2009: President Correa appears on the nationally televised program “Enlace Ciudadano” and articulates his vision for intellectual property as “a mechanism for development for the people”, also announcing a new policy of using compulsory licenses to improve access to medicines.

  • October 23, 2009: President Rafael Correa Delgado signs Decree 118 in Quito. Article 1 of the decree declares of public interest “access to medicines used for the treatment of diseases that affect the Ecuadorean population and are priorities for public health” and states that, “compulsory licenses may be granted for patents on any human use medicine that may be necessary for treatment.”

  • October 26, 2009: The Ecuadorean President publishes Decree 118.

  • October 28, 2009: Cámara de la Industria Farmaceútica de Investigación (IFI), a trade group representing multinational pharmaceutical companies in Ecuador, issues a press release stating that they “democratically accept” the decision taken by the Ecuadorean government.

  • December 4, 2009: President Correa’s decree goes officially into effect.

  • December 21, 2009: The President signs Decree 181, creating the public pharmaceutical firm Enfarma, designed, in part, to help implement Ecuador’s new licensing policy.  

  • January 15, 2010: The Ecuadorean Institute of Intellectual Property (IEPI) issues Resolution No. 10-04 P-IEPI, which provides instructions for the compulsory licensing of drug patents.

  • April 24, 2010: IEPI and the National Directorate of Industrial Property (DNPI) issue a compulsory license for the active ingredient ritonavir, a component of Abbott’s Kaletra.

  • April, 2011: El Universo newspaper publishes Wikileaks cables from U.S. Embassy personnel in Ecuador to the U.S. Department of State showing that the United States, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and three Ministers within the Ecuadorean government shared information and worked to undermine Ecuador's emerging policy.

  • November 12, 2012: Ecuador issues a compulsory license for abacavir/lamivudine.

 

 

 

Back to Ecuador's action page

Copyright © 2013 Public Citizen. All rights reserved. This Web site is shared by Public Citizen Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation.
  Learn More about the distinction between these two components of Public Citizen.


Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation

 

Together, two separate corporate entities called Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation, Inc., form Public Citizen. Both entities are part of the same overall organization, and this Web site refers to the two organizations collectively as Public Citizen.

Although the work of the two components overlaps, some activities are done by one component and not the other. The primary distinction is with respect to lobbying activity. Public Citizen, Inc., an IRS § 501(c)(4) entity, lobbies Congress to advance Public Citizen’s mission of protecting public health and safety, advancing government transparency, and urging corporate accountability. Public Citizen Foundation, however, is an IRS § 501(c)(3) organization. Accordingly, its ability to engage in lobbying is limited by federal law, but it may receive donations that are tax-deductible by the contributor. Public Citizen Inc. does most of the lobbying activity discussed on the Public Citizen Web site. Public Citizen Foundation performs most of the litigation and education activities discussed on the Web site.

You may make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., Public Citizen Foundation, or both. Contributions to both organizations are used to support our public interest work. However, each Public Citizen component will use only the funds contributed directly to it to carry out the activities it conducts as part of Public Citizen’s mission. Only gifts to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Individuals who want to join Public Citizen should make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., which will not be tax deductible.

 

To become a member of Public Citizen, click here.
To become a member and make an additional tax-deductible donation to Public Citizen Foundation, click here.