AIDS: UN agrees with Indian viewpoint

[Guest guest]

[Moderators note on TRIPS follows the main text of the " news " ]

AIDS: UN agrees with Indian viewpoint

UNITED NATIONS: In a major victory for India, a high-level United

Nations conference on AIDS has accepted New Delhi's viewpoint that

intellectual property rights should not stand in the way of

distribution of cheaper generic anti-retroviral drugs to treat the

deadly disease.

The cocktail of generic drugs produced by the Indian pharmaceutical

firms to treat the disease costs around $145 a year against more

than $10,000 brand name medicines manufactured by western drug

firms.

During the negotiations, some of the western nations had strongly

opposed such a provision in the declaration, the efforts which were

slammed by activists and non-government organisations as also

African countries hosting millions of HIV-infected people.

After intense negotiations, the meeting agreed to reaffirm that the

World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of

Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) " does not and should not "

prevent members from taking measures " now and in the future " to

protect public health.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1611359.cms

[Moderators note: The actual text of the UNGASS 2006

is; " Reaffirm that the World Trade Organization's Agreement on

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights does not and

should not prevent members from taking measures now and in the

future to protect public health. Accordingly, while reiterating our

commitment to the TRIPS Agreement, reaffirm that the Agreement can

and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of

the right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote

access to medicines for all including production of generic

antiretroviral drugs and other essential drugs for AIDS- related

infections. In this connection, we reaffirm the right to use, to the

full, the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement, the Doha Declaration on

TRIPS Agreement and Public Health and the World Trade Organization's

General Council decision of 2003 and the amendments to Article 31,

which provide flexibilities for this purpose " ]