[Ip-health] European Voice- A right to medicines for all?

[Terri - Louise Beswick]

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A right to medicines for all?=0D
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By Peter O'Donnell=0D
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03.12.2009 / 00:00 CET=0D
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There have been accusations that the EU is protecting big pharma and preven=
ting access to essential medicines for people in developing countries.=0D
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Despite their repeated professions of solidarity with people in poor countr=
ies, the European medicines industry =E2=80=93 and EU policymakers =E2=80=
=93 face accusations of being hard-headed and hard-hearted when it comes to=
 providing medicines to the developing world.  At issue are not just the fa=
miliar complaints about neglected fields of research, or prices beyond the =
reach of people on low incomes. Increasingly the discussions are centering =
on questions of intellectual property and trade negotiations.=0D
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Campaign groups allege hypocrisy, with EU determination to protect companie=
s' intellectual property flouting the United Nations Millennium Development=
 Goals aim of =E2=80=9Caccess to essential medicines in developing countrie=
s at affordable prices, in co-operation with pharmaceutical companies=E2=80=
=9D.=0D
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The medicines industry meanwhile makes ever-increasing gestures to enhancin=
g drug availability in the developing world. In recent weeks Pfizer has all=
owed screening of 150,000 of the novel chemical entities in its library, in=
 a search for compounds that might become treatments against serious but ne=
glected tropical diseases, and GlaxoSmithKline donated 50 million doses of =
pandemic H1N1 vaccine to the World Health Organization.=0D
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Improving delivery=0D
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Numerous programmes and projects funded by the EU's research or development=
 budget lines labour diligently at providing medicines and improving delive=
ry. World AIDS Day on 1 December elicited the predictable litany of express=
ions of concern, with Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament=
, speaking of the need for =E2=80=9Ca firm political commitment to increase=
 the resources=E2=80=9D and Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden's minister for interna=
tional development co-operation, travelling to South Africa on behalf of th=
e EU presidency to mark the occasion.=0D
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But the harsh fact remains that while developing countries account for more=
 than 80% of the world's population, they generate only about 10% of the =
=E2=82=AC600 billion in global sales of medicines every year. One of the co=
nsequences is that millions of people around the world are dying unnecessar=
ily from diseases that could be treated.=0D
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http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/a-right-to-medicines-for-all-=
/66603.aspx=0D
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