Pharma and USA warned over TRIPs in lead-up to WTO ministerial meeting

Pharmaceutical companies were urged to reconsider the economics ofpursuing a strong enforcement approach to the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement, ahead of the WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, November 9-13, at which drug patents were set to dominate.

With the industry's image already dented by the climb-down on the South African patent case (Marketletters passim), a further decline in its reputation could bring longer-term damage to profits, said analysts at business advisory firm KPMG.

While the industry must fully protect its positions in affluent markets, a more flexible attitude to patent law and enforcement in the poorest least-developed countries would have negligible impact upon the financial performance of leading companies, said John Morris, head of KPMG's European pharmaceuticals practice, who added that the public relations benefit of this could well outweigh the cost.