E-drug: Oxfam Briefing Paper on ensuring quality medicines
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Dear all
Oxfam International has released a new report entitled: 'Eye on the Ball: Medicines Regulation - not IP enforcement - can best deliver quality medicines'.
The report can be downloaded at: http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/eye-ball.
The report notes that poor-quality, or "substandard", medicines threaten patients and public health in developing countries. Prioritization of medicines regulation by developing-country governments, with the technical and financial support of rich countries, is badly needed. Yet under the guise of helping to address dangerous and ineffective medicines, rich countries are pushing for new intellectual-property rules and reliance on police - rather than health regulatory - action. This approach will not ensure that medicines consistently meet quality standards. Worse, new intellectual property rules can undermine access to affordable generic medicines and damage public health. Developing countries must improve medicines regulation - not expand intellectual-property enforcement - in order to ensure medicine quality.
Rohit Malpani
Oxfam America
rmalpani@OxfamAmerica.org