Wambi Michael
KAMPALA, Nov 6 2009 (IPS) – Uganda is considering an anti-counterfeit bill which analysts say will impair the country s ability to import and export cheap but effective generic medicines. Activists fear that the bill, once enacted, will deny Ugandans access to safe, effective, quality and affordable generic medication which currently forms the bulk of Uganda s medicine imports.
The Counterfeit Goods Bill seeks to prohibit trade in goods that ostensibly infringe intellectual property rights. The bill, which was tabled by Uganda s trade ministry, will empower the commissioner of customs to seize suspected counterfeit goods.
The bill defines counterfeiting as manufacturing, producing, packaging, re-packaging, labelling or making, whether in Uganda or outsid…
Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Dec 1 2009 (IPS) – Cuban biotechnology and pharmaceutical products are already among the country s major exports, and the industry is on course to continue developing while maintaining a firm focus on making a real difference to the health of all Cubans and of people in the numerous countries where Cuba provides medical assistance.
The existence of market forces is a reality that has to be reckoned with because of production costs, but health decisions cannot be governed by business considerations alone, said Agustín Lage, head of the Centre for Molecular Immunology (CIM), whose anti-cancer product Nimotuzumab is currently undergoing clinical trials in the United States.
Lage and other Cuban scientists presented the strategy and results obtaine…
A. D. McKenzie
PARIS, Apr 22 2010 (IPS) – Human rights groups are urging the French government to adopt a law that would ban the financing of companies that produce cluster munitions, the deadly bombs that have killed or maimed thousands of civilians in the past 40 years.
A child victim of cluster munitions. Credit: A. Carle – Handicap International
France is among the 106 countries that have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which will enter into force Aug. 1. The convention has been ratified by 30 sta…
Nastasya Tay
JOHANNESBURG, Sep 16 2010 (IPS) – The mooted restructuring of the revenue-sharing agreement of the world s oldest customs union could lead to at least two of its Southern African members collapsing into failed states status as well as macroeconomic crises in two of their neighbours in the sub-region.
SACU s smaller members states depend on import revenue transfers for their survival. Credit: Nastasya Tay/IPS
Even before celebrating the cen…
Irwin Loy
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Dec 14 2010 (IPS) – Every day, twice a day for the last seven years, Men Thol has swallowed a set of pills that gives him the strength to lead a normal life.
Intellectual property provisions could put ARV pills out of the reach of Cambodians who need them. Credit: Irwin Loy/IPS
The 39-year-old tested positive for HIV in the mid-1990s. At first, he relied on traditional medicines usually ground up tr…