04-27-2010, 09:53 AM
[url="http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/100426/1/4tdgx.html"]Charity slams EU-India trade talks over generic drugs access[/url]
Quote:Negotiations on a free-trade deal between the European Union and India should not conclude this week without a deal to ensure access to generic medicines, an aid charity said on Monday. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said in a statement that the talks are "the last chance to remove provisions that will block access to life-saving medicines for people living in the developing world." MSF official Michelle Childs said that neither the Indian trade minister Anand Sharma nor the EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht have given "a public commitment that the provisions that affect generic competition and access to medicines are off the table." The EU and India have been negotiating a trade deal since 2007, which Brussels hopes to wrap up by October. MSF insisted that the draft agreement "contains several alarming provisions on intellectual property and enforcement, much stricter than anything required under the international trade rules, that threaten the supply of essential medicines from India." However, a European Commission spokesman said it was "100 percent" committed to ensuring access to life-saving medicines and said there was "nothing in this deal that limits India's flexibility" to provide such care. Campaigners say the introduction of "data exclusivity" would mean that "generic (drugs) companies wishing to register a medicine will be obliged to repeat clinical studies," creating "huge financial barriers."