A treaty too many

Source: DowntoEarth

May 15,2013

India is learning that there is a heavy price to be paid for the large number of bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, it has signed in the hope of attracting foreign investment. In recent months, a slew of global investors upset with policy changes made by the government are seeking huge compensation from India in international arbitration. They are using provisions of the various BITs to seek not just monetary damages but also revocation of regulatory measures and key decisions such as on taxation.

Latha Jishnu outlines the threats such treaties pose by highlighting the most alarming investor complaints that have been filed worldwide against the state. If India does not review its investment policies and trade agreements and build in adequate safeguards, it could be in for worse shocks.

People with HIV, among other demonstrators, carry an inflatable pill to the EU-India summit in Delhi. They fear the EU-India free trade agreement could affect production of cheap, generic medicines by India.

TRIPping Up Least Developed Countries on Medicines, Green Tech, and Textbooks?

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

May 20,2013

As Brazilian Ambassador Roberto Azevedo won the race to head the World Trade Organization (WTO) last week, he must have been at least a little worried about taking over an organization that even leading members say is sinking into irrelevance. With the collapse of the Doha Round of talks, trade idealists are pinning their hopes on the December 2013 Ministerial Conference in Bali. But in the corners of WTO political decision-making there is an immediate and clear place to make progress: intellectual property rules in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Instead, though, in current negotiations with the world’s most impoverished countries, it seems the United States and the European Union remain committed to the flawed strategy that helped spark the Doha failure.

Live from the Trans Pacific Partnership: IP Chapter Shows No Sign of Resolution, End of Negotiation in 2013 Highly Unlikely

Source: Infojustice

May 20,2013

LIMA – There is a strong sense in the halls of the current TPP negotiation that the end is not in sight. And one of the primary reasons for the blocked progress is a lack of consensus on intellectual property and pharmaceuticals issues.

TRIPS Exemption Opposed By Obama Administration, Threatening Cost Spike For Drugs In Poorest Nations

Source: Huffington Post

May20,2013

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is seeking to curb efforts to exempt the world’s poorest countries from expansive trade rules that would substantially increase the price of life-saving medicine and other products.

The regulations would extend intellectual property rules currently used in developed countries to a few dozen nations currently classified by the United Nations as “Least Developed Countries” (LDCs), including Haiti, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Somalia, Chad and several other nations in sub-Saharan Africa. Because many of the nations classified as least developed exhibit very high rates of HIV and AIDS, the proposed rules have raised concerns among human rights advocates who note that higher drug prices will result in lower treatment levels.

Open Letter to TRIPS Council Chairman on LDC Extension: Alfredo Suescum, Ambassador of Panama to the World Trade Organization (WTO)

Source: KEI

May 20, 2013

Dear Ambassador Suescum,

We are outraged with the manner in which informal consultations are being
conducted on the issue of extension of the LDC¹s
transition period. We find the current process to be unfair and
prejudicial to the interests of the LDCs, the poorest and most vulnerable segment of the
international community.

Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations and the Controversial Issue of Pharmaceutical Test Data Protection

Source: Infojustice

May 17,2013

Trade negotiators are meeting in Lima, Peru this week for the seventeenth round of talks on the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  The negotiations are reaching the final stages as an October deadline approaches, and the most controversial topics have been pushed to the end.

The intersection of intellectual property and access to medicines is one such controversial area.  Advocates for access to medicines have warned that many intellectual property provisions sought by the United States will delay the introduction of generic medicines, thereby keeping the costs of medicines high.  These provisions include extensions of patent terms, extension of patentable subject matter, and data exclusivity.  This blog 1) gives a quick overview of data exclusivity, 2) points to data showing how it raised drug prices in three countries where it was implemented to meet trade obligations, 3) gives a note about the questionable link between exclusivity and investment, and 4) explores alternatives to data exclusivity and limitations on data exclusivity from previous trade agreements.

India-EU FTA talks fail to bridge gaps; ministerial meet unlikely

Source: Zee News

May 17,2013

New Delhi: In a set back to talks for the long-pending India-EU FTA, the chief negotiators’ meet on Friday failed to bridge “substantial gaps” on crucial issues, including insurance and data security status for IT sector, creating a bleak possibility of a ministerial meet next month.

The two sides began negotiations to iron out differences on various vexed issues from May 13, spearheaded by their chief negotiators who joined them on May 15 to reach a final position on the proposed trade pact.

However, the week-long talks ended with “substantial gaps” after which sources clearly indicating that there might not be a ministerial meet, as was scheduled for next month, since the brain-storming session could not achieve any major deliverables.

The sources noted that “a sense of urgency” as was witnessed in the previous rounds from the European side was “missing” this time and asserted “both sides failed to achieve any major breakthrough which was expected from this meet as this was treated as the penultimate round”.

They also maintained that with “failure” of this round, now the inking of the agreement seems unlikely in the current regime in India, which will be soon poll bound.

A victory for global public health in the Indian, Ellen T Hoen

Source: Journal of Public Health Policy

Abstract

On 1 April of this year, the Indian Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Indian Patent Office to refuse the patent grant for Novartis imatinib mesylate (Gleevec). The patent application failed to meet the requirements for patentability under Indian law. The global public health community followed the case closely. Its outcome could affect the Indian generics industry – an important supplier of low cost medicines to the developing world.

See the attached article here