E-DRUG: USA to continue "flexible" trade policy on access to medicines
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[Since President Clinton's decree that subsaharan countries could use
TRIPS-compliant parallel import and compulsory licensing in the interest
of providing essential drugs for the AIDS crisis, people have been
worried that President Bush might change the policy. Jamie Love of
CPT has asked, and found that the policy remains as is under Clinton.
Cross-posted from Pharm-Policy with thanks. NN]
The USTR [US Trade Representative - NN] has contacted CPT to provide
what I take to be very good news. The
new administration policy on access to medicines and trade policies will
be to continue the new "flexible" policy that was announced a little
more than a year ago. That is, USTR will consider the impact of trade
policies on access to medicine by the poor, as opposed to the earlier
historic approach (Reagan, Bush and Clinton prior to 1999) that looked
at these issues solely from the perspective of the commercial interests
of US companies. USTR is issuing a brief statement that I will post to
the list when I receive it.
James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
http://www.cptech.org
love@cptech.org
1.202.387.8030 fax 1.202.234.5176