A/HRC/11/12 page 9 facilitate competition and lower the prices of medicines. Lower standards of patent protection, however, which can increase the number of easily granted patents can lead to higher prices. Generic competition in the field of pharmaceuticals has the potential to significantly lower prices and increase access. 20. The example of HIV medicines is particularly illustrative. In 2001, when the HIV crisis was at its peak and the need for antiretrovirals (ARVs) was the most acute, it was the availability of cheaper generic ARVs from developing countries that led to a reduction in prices from over US$ 10,000 per patient per year to less than US$ 350 per patient per year for a first-line combination therapy.23 Today generic competition has helped reduce prices of first generation ARVs by more than 99 per cent.24 The availability of generic medicines from developing countries like Brazil, India, South Africa and Thailand has exerted a downward pressure on prices and increased the range of affordable options for national treatment programmes.25 Generic manufacturers have also been able to produce fixed-dose combinations of ARVs, which are easier to administer and use in developing countries and LDCs, including some combinations that are not available from patentees.26 The importance of generic medicines continues to be underscored today by their prominence in international medicine supply programmes. 21. However, the continued supply of generic medicines is now in doubt. For developing countries including those that manufacture and supply generic medicines, the deadline for TRIPS compliance and the introduction of product patents came in 2005. With this deadline, there is concern that the ability of companies to patent new pharmaceutical products on a near-global scale could inhibit further competition and prevent the price reductions needed to make antiretroviral therapy more widely available.27 For instance, several developing countries and LDCs expressed concerns to WHO that future, generic ARVs would not be available from India after 2005.28 This issue is valid for medicines for other diseases as well. Even where some countries are able to continue to manufacture generic medicines, TRIPS implementation in other countries may make it difficult to import these medicines. 23 C. Perez-Cassas et al., “Accessing ARVs: untangling the web of price reductions for developing countries”, Médecins Sans Frontières, 2001, p. 3. 24 Médecins sans frontiers, “Untangling the Web of ARV Price Reductions”, 11th edition, 2008. 25 UNAIDS/WHO, AIDS Epidemic Update, 2008 (Geneva, 2008). 26 WHO/UNAIDS, Progress on Global Access to HIV Antiretroviral Therapy: a Report on “3 by 5” and Beyond (March, 2006), p. 60. 27 28 Ibid. Letter from WHO HIV/AIDS Director to Indian Health Minister, 17 December 2004. See also E. Kameni, “Implications of Indian intellectual property law on sub-Saharan African countries”, The Botswana Review of Ethics, Law & HIV/AIDS, vol. 2, No. 1 (2008), p. 57.