Keywords: European Commission, De Grucht, Generics, TRIPS, Developing nations

EU Commissioner-designate De Gucht questioned on generic medicine

Article | 2 February 2010

Karel De Gucht, the current European Commissioner for Development Assistance and a former Belgian Foreign Minister, is due to take over the trade portfolio in February. During his hearing, Memeber of the European Parliament David Martin (S&D, UK) asked whether the Commissioner-designate planned to facilitate trade in generic medicines to developing countries in need by applying Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-plus provisions in free trade agreements. Mr Martin stated that "we spend millions tackling AIDS and other diseases in the developing world, but trade policy sometimes denies medicines to people."

Mr De Gucht tried to provide a balanced reply. Enjoying this article? To continue reading you need to login, take a FREE trial or subscribe.

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