Europe threatens to shut down India’s role as ‘pharmacy of the developing world’
Jan 04, 2011
The European Union is pursuing a free trade agreement with India which will restrict Indian drug producers from making affordable generic medicines used to treat people across the developing world. In October 2010, MSF launched a campaign called ‘Europe! Hands Off Our Medicines,’ with the goal of getting the EU to back down.
More than 80% of the AIDS medicines MSF uses to treat 160,000 people across the world are generics from India, and the treatment programmes paid for by international donors rely on affordable Indian medicines just as much.
But this is now under threat, as the EU pushes policies that will dry up the flow of affordable medicines. Europe is trying to undermine India’s patent law, which in the interest of public health only grants patents for medicines that show significant innovation – a fact that has long upset the pharmaceutical industry in wealthy countries. Drug companies have actively – but so far unsuccessfully – sought to challenge the law in Indian courts. Having lost in the courts, the companies are now using the EU’s trade policies to try to stamp out the competition from India.
MSF can not stand by as its crucial source of affordable medicines is under attack. People have taken to the streets in India, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Kenya and Europe in support of this campaign. The negotiations for the free trade agreement are ongoing and MSF will continue to speak out against these harmful policies.
Take action by sending a letter to the EU’s Trade Commissioner Karel DE GUCHT, telling him to take his hands off our medicines! Go to https://action.msf.org
Dr. Peter SARANCHUK, HIV doctor for MSF in South Africa “A decade ago, people wouldn’t even bother getting tested for AIDS because they knew the drugs to treat them were too expensive anyway. I refuse to go back ten years. We cannot let the Europeans shut down the supply of affordable medicines we and others rely on to treat patients around the world.”
More than 80% of the AIDS medicines MSF uses to treat 160,000 people across the world are generics from India, and the treatment programmes paid for by international donors rely on affordable Indian medicines just as much.
But this is now under threat, as the EU pushes policies that will dry up the flow of affordable medicines. Europe is trying to undermine India’s patent law, which in the interest of public health only grants patents for medicines that show significant innovation – a fact that has long upset the pharmaceutical industry in wealthy countries. Drug companies have actively – but so far unsuccessfully – sought to challenge the law in Indian courts. Having lost in the courts, the companies are now using the EU’s trade policies to try to stamp out the competition from India.
MSF can not stand by as its crucial source of affordable medicines is under attack. People have taken to the streets in India, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Kenya and Europe in support of this campaign. The negotiations for the free trade agreement are ongoing and MSF will continue to speak out against these harmful policies.
Take action by sending a letter to the EU’s Trade Commissioner Karel DE GUCHT, telling him to take his hands off our medicines! Go to https://action.msf.org
Dr. Peter SARANCHUK, HIV doctor for MSF in South Africa “A decade ago, people wouldn’t even bother getting tested for AIDS because they knew the drugs to treat them were too expensive anyway. I refuse to go back ten years. We cannot let the Europeans shut down the supply of affordable medicines we and others rely on to treat patients around the world.”
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