24 - 30 May 2001
Issue No.535
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 May 2001 Issue No.535 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
To make the medicine go down
Despite the panic caused by the news that several multinational pharmaceutical companies are pressuring Egyptian companies to stop producing 200 medications, the real problems facing the pharmaceuticals industry here are yet to come. In January 2005, the 10-year grace period for the implementation of TRIPS (the trade-related intellectual property rights agreement) will end. Over six years have already evaporated and no measures have been taken to counter the agreement's expected effects, such as dramatic increases in the price of medicine, and the crippling of the national pharmaceuticals industry.
As far as the latest story is concerned, the fears of public and companies alike are justified. No doubt the multinationals -- in which US interests hold a decisive majority -- wanted to start implementing TRIPS a few years early.
Two major points should be stressed here. First, if the problem stems from prime ministerial decree 2211/2000 concerning confidentiality of information regarding certain products, then the remedy should focus on modifying the decree. Second, the government, the pharmaceuticals industry and public opinion desperately need to understand the wider implications of this brief episode, think of January 2005, and consider the measures that should have been, and have yet to be, taken.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of pharmacology at the National Organisation for Drug Control and Research.
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