“The U.S. government has an unfortunate history of pressuring low- and middle-income countries to observe strong intellectual property protection on medicines …, block[ing] access to generics in countries unable to afford expensive brand name drugs sold by American drug companies,” a post on infojustice.org reports. “[Thursday], trade officials will hear from public health advocates at an open hearing (.pdf) that their policies on intellectual property enforcement impede access to medicines around the world,” the website adds (2/22).