Thomson Reuters Foundation: India’s Modi must resist U.S. pressure on drug patents: MSF “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must not give in to U.S. pressure to change intellectual property laws which allow India to produce generic medicines poor people can afford, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said…” (Bhalla,…

Huffington Post: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Terrible for Public Health Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines Program The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is “a pending trade deal between the U.S. and 11 Asian trading partners. Despite…

“Amid looming uncertainty, trade ministers and officials from 159 countries Tuesday began formal negotiations at the [World Trade Organization (WTO)] ministerial meeting [in Bali] in a bid to reach consensus on issues such as food security and trade facilitation,” Zee News reports. “India, which is an important member of the…

“The World Trade Organization’s [WTO] ninth ministerial meeting at Bali, Indonesia, has morphed into a fierce battle between the countries seeking social safety nets for hundreds of millions of poor people and those insisting on having advanced import-facilitation programs in the developing countries on par with the industrialized nations,” Inter…

“A consensus still eludes the 159 member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on issues of trade facilitation and food subsidy on the final day of the ninth ministerial talks of the group,” the Financial Express reports. “After hectic parleys with India and the U.S. that lasted until early…

“Tobacco companies are pushing back against a worldwide rise in antismoking laws, using a little-noticed legal strategy to delay or block regulation,” the New York Times reports. The strategy “has gained momentum in recent years as smoking rates in rich countries have fallen and tobacco companies have sought to maintain…

“A new battle is looming over access to antiviral medicines in developing countries — this time for treating hepatitis C [HCV] — more than a decade after a global showdown over the price of AIDS drugs in Africa,” Reuters reports. “Modern pills being launched in western markets could cure the…

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) features an archived webcast from September 5 of “a short preview and discussion of [the new documentary] ‘Fire In The Blood’ and current U.S. government trade and global health policies, with expert panelists, including the film’s director, as they examine this history and explain…

Reuters: South Africa slams Big Pharma in generic drugs row “South Africa on Friday slammed global drug firms over a covert campaign against its planned overhaul of intellectual property laws to favor cheaper generic drugs, accusing pharmaceutical companies of a ‘satanic’ plot to commit ‘genocide.’ … South Africa is in…

The Center for Global Health Policy’s blog “Science Speaks” reports on a proposal prepared by U.S.-based PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) and the South Africa-based IPASA (Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa) in response to the South African government’s Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (IP). The “proposal says…