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US blocking deal to cut drug prices
Sri Lanka and scores of third world countries will be seriously affected by a recent US decision to block an agreement whereby developing countries could have obtained quality drugs at affordable prices.

At a meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva last weekend, the US said it could not agree to WTO patent regulation amendments for parallel imports whereby developing countries could have obtained essential drugs at affordable prices.

Sri Lanka also was planning to make extensive parallel imports from India and other countries through the State Pharmaceutical corporations and the newly set up State Trading company Medical Ltd. According to the action committee on justice for patients such parallel imports could have helped Sri Lanka to slash the prices of drugs for the treatment of AIDS, Malaria,Tuberculosis and other diseases. But that will not be possible now because the US has dealt a virtual death blow to the proposed deal

One NGO campaigning in Geneva for a deal on life-saving drugs accused the US and other major powers of being driven by the interests of their pharmaceutical firms rather than by humanitarian considerations.

According to a shocking report in the London Guardian it was US vice president Dick Chenney - widely known to be an advocate for global corporations including drug giants - who personally intervened at the Geneva meeting to block a global deal to provide cheap drugs to poor countries, following intense lobbying of the White House by America's pharmacuetical giants.

Faced with furious opposition from all the other 140 members of the WTO the US refused to relax global patent laws which keep the price of drugs beyond reach of most developing countries.

Talks at the WTO's Geneva headquarters collapsed after the White House ruled out a deal which would have permitted full range of life-saving drugs to be imported into Africa, Asia and Latin America at cut price costs, the Guardian said.

Sources in Geneva said that the negotiating strategy had come straight from the White House, with Mr. Cheney seizing the reins from America's trade negotiator, Robert Zoellick.

The Drug industry argues that it spends billions a year on drug research and that if copycat companies can override their patents and manufacture drugs at bargain prices, research will dry up.

However aid agencies lobbying on behalf of poor countries pointed out that the cut-price drugs will only be sold in countries which cannot afford to buy them at First World prices. They accused the White House of being in the pocket of big US drug companies.

Dr. K. Balasubramanium Asia Pacific Consultant to the Colombo based health Action International said yesterday, Paragraph 6 of the WTO Doha Declaration was of vital importance to countries like Sri Lanka which did not have the capacity to manufacture patent protected drugs through compulsory licensing.

He said WTO ministers had recognized that WTO members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector could face difficulties under the TRIPS Agreement. The ministers instructed the council from TRIPS to find an expeditious solution to the problem and to report to the council before the end of 2002. The TRIPS Council was requested to negotiate an agreement so that generic drugs produced under compulsory licensing by a country with manufacturing capacity like India could be exported to a developing country like Sri Lanka which has no manufacturing capacity. This is referred to as "imports/exports of generic drugs."

The TRIPS Council met in Geneva last week but failed to negotiate such an agreement.

He said the US, for various reasons indicated that the Doha Declaration would have to be rewritten.

The developed countries argued that compulsory licenses should be granted to a few drugs for imports and exports.

Developing countries said wanted the spirit of Doha to prevail so that developing countries could override patent laws in the interest of public health by putting public interest over commercial interests, Dr. Balsubramanium said.


GMOA checkmated
One of the most powerful trade unions-the Government Medical Officers Association is crumbling in disunity with two factions now accusing each other of financial fraud.
GMOA General Secretary Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya who heads one faction in the bitter dispute which has sparked three court cases said that according to the association's constitution, all moveable and immovable property was vested with the trustees.He said the GMOA cheque books were locked in a cupboard in the headquarters office and on December 13, Dr. J. Niles, the Chief Trustee had opened the cupboard to make some payments in the presence of six members and the cheque books were there. But on December 23, when Dr. Niles opened the cupboard in the presence of eight people to make payments for the month, the two cheque books and the three pass books were missing.

Dr. Padeniya said the other faction had made a complaint to the police earlier that 'a person called Dr. Niles had stolen the cheque books'. "My statement to the Cinnamon Garden Police in this regard was clarifying who Dr. Niles was and explaining that he had the authority to take charge of financial matters as the Chief Trustee. Dr. Niles didn't take the cheque books home, he only took charge of handling the financial issues," Dr. Padeniya said.

The police, Dr. Padeniya said, had concluded that the issue should be resolved among themselves as it was an internal conflict.

The division in the union was a result of differences of opinion which prompted five executive committee members including the President, Treasurer and three Assistant Secretaries of the GMOA to resign.

But the rival faction tells a completely different story. GMOA Assistant Secretary, Rukshan Bellana, a spokesman for the rival group said the Padeniya faction was virtually accusing them of stealing the cheque books. Dr. J.R. Saranapala another spokesman for the rival group said Dr. Niles had taken over the cheque books but failed to inform the Executive Committee and that was the basis of their complaint to the police.

He said Dr.Padeniya's claim that the cheque books had disappeared was baseless.

Gas prices explode
By Nalaka Nonis
In December last year the price of a cylinder of Shell gas was Rs. 509- on Thursday it sky rocketted to Rs. 598. The alternative company Laugfs gas soared higher than any seasonal skyrocket.From Rs. 409 last December the price of its gas cylinder has now roared to Rs. 580-leaving shell-shocked consumers in a dizzy spin with no one to turn to.

Responding to protests by angry consumers, spokesmen for both companies blamed the massive price hikes on Persian Gulf tension over a possible US, Iraq war and a rise in world market prices.

On Thursday Shell announced it was raising its price by Rs. 31 and Laugfs followed the next day with a double jump by as much as Rs. 65.

Laugf gas chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya said his proposing a deal to the government. He said they could reduce the price of a cylinder by Rs. 58 if tax concessions were given.

Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake facing widespread public criticism for failing to check gas prices and the cost of living said tension in the Persian Gulf and the resultant prices hikes were beyond his control.

Laugfs gas had come into the market last year promising its prices would be much lower than Shell's but now they are running parallel. In that scenario where much is promised but little is kept a third gas company Mundo gas has come into the scene with its chairman promising gas at much lower prices from next month. For the past few months Mundo has been turning on the gas saying it will come into operation soon leaving most consumers sceptical as to whether even a third company would serve public interest or commercial interest.


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