PHA-Exchange> PATIENT VS PATENT DEBATE CARRIES ON

[chitra Sathaynarayanan]

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PATIENT VS PATENT DEBATE CARRIES ON 
The Financial Express

An amendment to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to incorporate the August 2003 deal for improving access to medicines for poor countries has been delayed with member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) failing to agree on the way ahead. 

The June 30 deadline may be extended to March 2005. The differences, like in all other agreements, are between the developed and the developing world. The developed world which is represented by the EU and the US wants to make this decision a part of the footnote to the existing TRIPS agreement while the developing world wants this as part of the Agreement itself, not as a footnote. 

Brussels and Washington are worried that incorporating this into the Agreement itself can create problems since the TRIPS as it exists today is well tuned to benefit all member countries and any change has the potential to tilt the balance in the agreement. 

Chitra
chitrachit at rediffmail.com