STAT: More GOP lawmakers urge U.S. trade officials to lean on Colombia over drug approvals “Still more Republican lawmakers are urging the U.S. trade representative to require Colombia to change its laws governing drug approvals before supporting the country’s membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an intergovernmental…

Center for Global Health Research: Health, Taxes, and Poverty in 500 Million Male Smokers This press release discusses findings from a recent study published in BMJ examining the effects of higher cigarette prices on global health and development, noting, “Higher cigarette prices would save millions of people from extreme poverty…

Reuters: Philippines’ Duterte now targets fake drugs “Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has opened a new front in his war on drugs, targeting fake over-the-counter medicines to try to stem the spread of counterfeit paracetamol, his lawyer said on Wednesday…” (Mogato, 3/28).

Christian Science Monitor: For doctor in Congo’s overlooked conflict, ‘crisis fatigue’ isn’t an option (Brown, 3/22). Devex: More bad news: Does the media really impact how the aid sector works? (Anders, 3/22). Devex: Q&A: What does 2018 hold for the fight against TB? (Pallares, 3/23). The Guardian: Paraguayan rape victim,…

Forbes: Unbranding Economic Freedom: The WHO And The Case Of Plain Packaging Lorenzo Montanari, director of international programs and affairs for Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of Property Rights Alliance “…The [plain packaging] policy [on tobacco products] is a direct attack on economic freedom and should never have…

New York Times: In Nafta Talks, U.S. Tries to Limit Junk Food Warning Labels “The contentious negotiations over the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement have veered into one of the world’s most pressing health issues: fighting obesity. Urged on by big American food and soft-drink companies, the…

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Climate change and protectionism could harm efforts to feed the world: report “Rising protectionist and anti-trade sentiments threaten efforts to curb malnutrition even as more people go hungry and climate pressures rise, a U.S.-based think-tank said on Tuesday. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) noted the…

SciDev.Net: Argentine NGO objects to antiretroviral patent request “An Argentine foundation has asked the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) to deny a patent request for an antiretroviral drug by the North American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc. … In Brazil the same request by Gilead was rejected in 2017…”…

STAT: Nearly 90 countries sidestepped patents to bring down drug prices, surpassing expectations “In 2001, a modified World Trade Organization agreement ushered in a new era of access to medicines by giving countries the right to sidestep drug makers that charged unaffordable prices. … [A] new analysis finds that 89…

Intellectual Property Watch: New Text Shows Progress Of Negotiation On IP And Access At WHO “The Brazilian ambassador and others [on Thursday] at the World Health Organization Executive Board meeting were not going to let go of what seemed to be a delaying tactic by the United States and Japan…