American Views Abroad


Friday, April 21, 2006
 
A very unsettling, disturbing article appeared in the IHT business section on Wednesday. The headline: US pushes to limit generic-drug rights in trade pacts.

'.....it came as a jolt in January when the United States asked Thailand to sign a free trade agreement that would, on paper, dilute its right to break patents and use generics. Washington said the agreement would save lives by spurring innovation and by making the multinationals more confident to sell drugs in the country. But Thai officials saw the proposal as a morbid bargain: either refuse the US offer and scuttle a trade deal with the United States worth billions of dollars, or accept it and lift the price of AIDS drugs beyond the reach of the poor. .... In effect, Washington is stitching together a parallel global patents system. The trade deals, negotiated in secret, attract little notice. But they have already been signed with developing countries battling AIDS, including six in Central America.'
www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/18/business/generic.php.

However, in today's IHT a headline stated Profit rises at big drug companies: Sales growth offsets generics competition.
www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/20/bloomberg/bxdrug.php.

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