Obama Administration Should Support Trade Policies That Would Expand ART Access

Noting successes with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and PEPFAR, as well as other domestic and international programs, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) writes in a Politico opinion piece, "But this is not enough." He continues, "The Obama administration has the opportunity to push for policies that can offer developing nations more access to generic ARV therapies," including supporting intellectual property rules under the Trans-Pacific Partnership "that would help speed up -- not impede -- generic drug competition in countries like Vietnam." Waxman adds, "We should also back efforts to give developing countries more flexibility in interpreting the World Trade Organization's patent rules for medicines," and the administration "should ... promote the Medicines Patent Pool, a bold initiative to bring down prices of HIV medicines by encouraging pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily license their patents and allow generic manufacturers to sell in developing countries." Waxman concludes that the U.S. should be proud of its leadership on HIV/AIDS, "[b]ut our work is far from done. Supporting reliable access to generic medicines in the developing world is a much-needed step in getting us there" (7/24).

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