ISDS Case Map
medicines
The controversy over the impact of bilateral trade agreements on public health poses particular difficulties for the Geneva-based WHO, which is gearing up for the highly political election of a new director-general.
South Korea and the United States ended the first of a two-day meeting on pharmaceuticals and medical equipment on Monday, with Washington reiterating its acceptance of Seoul's new drug policy plan within an envisioned free trade agreement (FTA), South Korean officials said.
In the midst of the world's biggest HIV/AIDS conference here, close to a hundred activists launched a noisy protest over bilateral free trade agreements, which they say elevate patent protections above the right to life-extending antiretroviral drugs.
Patent and data protection rules in free trade agreements have a profound
impact on the ability of developing countries to access life saving
medicines of assured quality.
The United States welcomed Friday an agreement reached with South Korea on a pharmaceutical pricing system that had impeded bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) talks but denied it was a concession on its part.
South Korea and the United States reported an apparent breakthrough in free-trade talks Friday after bickering over pharmaceuticals cut short negotiations last month.
The United States has accepted South Korea's new drug-pricing measure aimed at offering quality medicine at cheaper prices, brightening the future of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on pharmaceutical issues, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday.
Seoul and Washington reportedly have a plan to hold separate negotiations on the controversial issue of pharmaceutical pricing in a third country, ahead of the third round of FTA talks to be held in the U.S.
This examines macro-economic issues, intellectual property and patent protections, the potential impact on pharmaceuticals, and other issues at stake in the U.S.-Korea FTA.
Malaysia's generic drug manufacturers might find it more difficult to conduct business if the US' negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) are influenced by the strong US pharmaceutical lobby there.
