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Pharmaceutical Products

Volume 407: debated on Monday 16 June 2003

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To ask the Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the impact on African development of the United States' decision not to relax the rules on pharmaceutical patents; and what discussions he has had with President Bush on this matter. [119193]

The issue of how WTO Members with insufficient manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector can make effective use of the compulsory licensing provisions of the WTO TRIPS Agreement is still under discussion. We hope to see an effective solution agreed by the next WTO ministerial in Cancun in September.