Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Health advocates on Friday escalated their alarm over recent seizures by the Dutch government of shipments of legitimate generic pharmaceuticals passing through Europe on their way to developing countries. The European Commission has defended its actions as permissible under its own and international rules, but is being asked to look more carefully at those rules.
Developing nations led by Brazil and India, along with public health providers and advocates, this week continue to press strong concern over seizures of legitimate shipments of generic pharmaceuticals destined for poor patients in the developing world. Raising the issue at the World Trade Organization again, they say new research into numerous shipments of legitimate drugs delayed by authorities in the Netherlands have elevated doubts and may mean potentially thousands of patients put at risk.
The United States patent reform bills offered up Tuesday fall well short of what is needed to protect innovation and intellectual property rights, say myriad small tech companies, large-cap manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms and inventors. In fact, they say, it even threatens jobs at a time when the economy is in desperate need of them.
But proponents argue that it is precisely the type of measure needed to promote jobs, reduce lawsuits and poor patent quality that put a drag on innovation and the economy.
Should national drug control bodies grant marketing licences to generic medicine companies only if their products do not possibly infringe existing patent rights? Yes, German pharmaceutical company Bayer told the High Court of Delhi last week when the court heard arguments in an ongoing court case on patent linkage.
Key players in the biotechnology industry are leading an effort to obtain global approval processes for generic biological medicines, which experts say could provide cheaper access to costly but widely prescribed and promising treatments.
布鲁塞尔 - 全球公共卫生活跃分子声称，欧盟执意要在一系列自由贸易协议中添加有关医药专利的强硬规定将会妨害发展中国家获得医药。
ابروكسل- إن الجهود التي يبذلها الاتحاد الأوروبي لإدراج أحكام حول براءات المستحضرات الصيدلانية في سلسلة من اتفاقات التجارة الحرة التي يتفاوض حولها قد تشكل تهديدا على إمكانية الحصول على الأدوية في البلدان النامية، على حد قول الناشطين في مجال الصحة العامة على الصعيد العالمي.
BRUXELLES - Selon certains activistes de la santé publique mondiale, les efforts de l’Union européenne (UE) pour intégrer des dispositions sur les brevets pharmaceutiques dans un certain nombre d’accords de libre échange en cours de négociation pourraient mettre en péril l’accès aux médicaments dans les pays en développement.
BRUSELAS- Los esfuerzos de la Unión Europea para introducir disposiciones firmes en materia de patentes farmacéuticas en una serie de acuerdos de libre comercio que está negociando podrían poner en peligro el acceso a los medicamentos en los países en desarrollo, según han afirmado activistas de la salud pública a nivel mundial.
As the United States battles an economic meltdown, items like economic stimulus and home foreclosure relief are taking centre stage. Congress also is still working to confirm President Obama's nominees. But once those items are dealt with, issues such as patent reform and intellectual property enforcement are expected to be hot-button items once again.
French legislators are putting the final touches on controversial legislation that will likely lead to the most governmentally-proactive law intended to curb illegal file sharing among any other European Union member state.
Leading international public health advocates have sent letters to the heads of the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization calling on them to act to prevent possible circumvention of international trade rules for intellectual property rights relating to shipments of legal generic drugs bound for developing countries.