The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a set of negotiating objectives for renegotiating the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that include its hopes for elevating intellectual property in the trade deal. Included in the list: force Canada and Mexico to ratify international treaties, accept US law on IP protection and create conditions for “strong” IP enforcement especially online, and ensure ample protection for products with generic names. Perhaps oddly, there is only one mention of trade agreements, which includes respect for a 2001 text at the World Trade Organization on IP and public health. Continue reading ->


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Trade ministers negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without the United States have dropped many problematic provisions related to intellectual property and health, Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) reported today. Also removed from the agreement appears to be the investor-state dispute settlement provisions, according to a source. Continue reading ->


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The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today selected Peter Sands, a former bank CEO who is involved in health projects at the World Bank and elsewhere, as its next executive director.Continue reading ->


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A well-represented set of experts this week held discussions on the current situation of access to vaccines, the market, the role of pharmaceutical companies, and partnerships. Vaccines were not a field much affected by patents in the past, but the situation has changed and new vaccines are now covered by intellectual property, which might constitute a barrier to access, according to speakers. Continue reading ->


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Hidden amongst the thousands of Facebook pages given over to holiday snaps and gossip are groups of patients who have hepatitis C, a disease that affects more than 70 million worldwide and kills around 400,000 people a year.

But importantly, these groups of patients from Russia to Australia have got together to help each other import a relatively new class of drug that is able to cure most of the patients who take it. Continue reading ->


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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) this month gathered a wide range of key stakeholders to have a frank discussion about how to solve rising global resistance to existing antibiotics. While not a negotiation, stakeholders in the expert group opened up and shared perspectives, leading to some informal conclusions. Among them: more public and private investment, and a shift in the R&D system to new-style incentives, are needed. Continue reading ->