Uganda leads push for permanent waiver on drug patents
In the race against killer diseases like malaria and HIV, the world’s poor countries are largely dependent on generic drugs, according to data from UNDP and UNAids. PHOTO | FILE
Uganda is leading the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) in the ongoing showdown talks at the World Trade Organisation headquarters in Geneva, where America remains the only powerful country still refusing to grant a permanent waiver on patents on medicines.
Joining Uganda in demanding that LDCs remain protected from the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property rights on the manufacture of pharmaceuticals are the Asian states of Nepal and Bangladesh.
