Pharmaceutical sciences
Combating fake medicines: health, IP and global politics
Issues such as intellectual property rights have prevented action in tackling the global menace of counterfeit and substandard medicines
India: Urgent steps are needed to ensure quality medicines
IPN Opinion article
The WHO is trying to fight the huge international trade in counterfeits but faces opposition from India and others, driven by a strange coalition ranging from the far Left to business organisations: this author blows away some of the straw men these people have built up. Barun Mitra says robust trademark protection will give Indian companies a stake in quality and give Indian, and worldwide, patients the guarantees that they need.
Is War Against Bad Medicine Paying Off?
IPN Opinion article
Nigeria tends to make headlines for corruption but it has made impressive progress in fighting counterfeit medicines, through the determined actions of its National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), started under the brave leadership of the legendary Dora Akunyili. These analysts describe their new research that updates their frightening discoveries of fakes in 2007.
Subsidies for the rich in poor countries
IPN Opinion article
Champions of local production see it as a way of decreasing transport costs, providing local jobs, increasing expertise, cutting dependence on foreign suppliers--thus lowering prices and magically improving access to drugs. But subsidies, protectionism and political criteria open the door to all sorts of bad policies and all sorts of bad medicines.
