| The issue of intellectual property rights (IPR) and access to drugs has once again been thrown under the spotlight as a result of the recent bioterrorist attacks on the US - but this time with an ironic twist: it has been the very countries that blocked the efforts of developing nations to override IPR to obtain access to key drugs that have recently threatened to do just that. So, in an attempt to procure mass quantities of antibiotics with which to treat anthrax poisoning - and amid threats to contract generic firms to ensure adequate supplies of Bayer AG's drug Cipro/Ciprobay (ciprofloxacin) - did the US and Canada undermine long-held positions and political credibility on pharmaceutical IPR in the run-up to the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in Doha (Qatar, 9th-14th November)? |
