WTO AND DRUG AVAILABILITY

Early day motion 835, tabled 16 March 2004 by John Battle (Labour). Signed by 66 members.

That this House urges the Government to introduce legislation to amend drug patent laws to enable companies to supply cheaper, generic-brand treatments to developing nations in the war against AIDS, following the unanimous WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health of August 2003, encouraging member countries to relax patent restrictions; recognises the need to make medical treatment available to the untold millions suffering from deadly infectious diseases, notably HIV/AIDS, in the least developed areas of the world and especially in the poorest countries of Africa; and acknowledges that greater steps can in fact be taken, as recent legislation proposed by the Canadian Government demonstrates, to advance these crucial health and development objectives while also respecting the intellectual property rights of the pharmaceutical industry.

Signatures by party: Labour 37, Liberal Democrat 14, Labour/Co-operative 8, Plaid Cymru 3, UUP 2, Conservative 1, Scottish National Party 1.