MIAMI, Nov 19 (AFP) - Proposed rules on intellectual property in the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement could keep cheap generic drugs to fight HIV and tuberculosis prohibitivly expensive, members of the group Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday.
The US-backed proposed rules, which the group says is stricter than World Trade Organization-sanctioned guidelines, could have "catastrophic" effects, said group member Rachel Cohen.
Nearly two million people in the Americas live with full-blow AIDS, Cohen said.
Trade ministers from every country in the Americas, except Cuba, meet Thursday and Friday at a seaside hotel here to work on the plan for a pan-American free market by 2005.
031119
AF031181
©AFP 2003. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. - http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2003 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
