[Ip-health] IFMSA policy statement on situation in Thailand re Abbott and CL

[Rachel Kiddell-Monroe]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Text of original UAEM posting from Mori Mansouri of UAEM UK on 11 March
2008.
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Hi folks,

The 57th Annual March Meeting of the International Federation of Medical
Students=B9 Associations (IFMSA) has just finished in Monterrey, Mexico. Th=
e
theme for this General Assembly was Migration and Health.

A number of policy statements were passed at this meeting. I would like to
draw to your attention the final policy statement:

"The final policy statement concerns the current situation in Thailand
regarding Abbott Pharmaceuticals and the Compulsory licence issued by the
Government of Thailand for the anti-retroviral Kaletra. (6) Under the
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
(7) and the subsequent Doha Declaration, (8) Governments such as Thailand
have the right to issue a compulsory license on a patent in the interests o=
f
public health i.e. they can break the patent on it and manufacture a generi=
c
version of the drug. Abbott have since refused to license any new drugs for
use in Thailand in order to punish the Government for their decision. The
policy statement calls on the IFMSA to send a letter of support for the
decision of the Government of Thailand to the US Trade Representative to
Thailand, the Thai Government and the DG of the WHO, Dr Margaret Chan."

For a more comprehensive update of this meeting, please visit:
http://www.thelancetstudent.com/2008/03/10/highlights-of-the-ifmsa-conferen=
c
e-by-gerard-millen/.






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Rachel Kiddell-Monroe
President and Chair of the Board
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
www.essentialmedicine.org
514 481 1186