IGPA welcomes WTO and WIPO DGs

The International Generic Pharmaceutical Association's annual conference in Geneva, Switzerland, has been the forum for a series of discussions about the direction of intellectual property rights and access to medicines. Among the key speakers were World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy and his World Intellectual Property Organization counterpart, Francis Gurry.

Mr Lamy was welcomed by delegates, especially with his statement that "no one should make confusion between substandard, counterfeit medicines and generics," the IP Watch reported. Mr Gurry received a rather less enthusiastic response for his call of "respect for IP" from the assembled mixture of generic drugmakers and anti-patent activists.