Philippines Lawmaker Says WTO Rules Slipped Into Cheap Medicines Bill
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
A representative in the Philippines House says a drug industry consultant revealed that provisions sneaked into a "cheap-medicines" bill approved by the House would moot its effects. The measure is intended to make drugs more competitive and thus bring about lower prices. But one of the bill's supporters said he was told by the consultant that provisions had been slipped into the bill to make provisions of a World Trade Organization agreement paramount to local law and thus block Indian generics. The provisions are in the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement that allows multinationals to patent their drugs in India. (Click here for more