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May 23, 2003
U.S. IMMUNIZATION
NEWS
U.S. Move on Drug
Patents Under Attack
Financial Times (www.ft.com)
(05/23/03) P. 9; Williams, Frances
The United States
asserts that new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics increased life expectancy
between 1986 and 2000, reinforcing its call for stronger patent protection and
other incentives to encourage more research and development by drug companies.
However, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, and other groups argue that
strengthening patents only serve to increase prices for developing countries.
One report claims that intellectual property only plays a part in diseases with
a large market in industrialized countries. The U.S. resolution will most
likely fail, and opponents note that the plan does not allow for developing
countries to access generic drugs as the United States promised it would during
World Trade Organization negotiations.
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knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended
as providing medical or legal advice. The decision whether or not to vaccinate
is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in
consultation with your health care provider.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"