§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she took at the G8 meeting on December 6 to 8 to urge G8 Governments to support developing countries, in exercising their rights under the TRIPs agreement, to use compulsory licences to reduce the prices of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and related infections; and if she will make a statement about the outcome of the meeting with regard to development issues. [141559]
§ Clare ShortAt the recent meeting in Japan, the UK Government, with other G8 Governments, reaffirmed our commitment to improved access and affordability of health services, commodities and information to developing countries. There was increased G8 political and financial commitment to improving availability and affordability of medicines, in particular for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, for developing countries.
There is a need to ensure increased access to affordable, effective drugs and vaccines. We also need to ensure research and development for new medicines for diseases of the poor in the future. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) provide an essential incentive for private investment in research and development. The WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Property Rights (TRIPs) sets out minimum standards for IPR. TRIPs allows compulsory licensing under certain circumstances but this needs to be used in exceptional circumstances, otherwise it would reduce the incentives for pharmaceutical company investment in research better to meet the needs of poor countries.
As indicated in my Government's new White Paper on Globalisation, the UK Government have commissioned urgent work to develop new proposals to improve access to existing medicines, and to tackle the lack of incentives for investment in research for future vaccines and treatments for HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB medicines.