Bank: Patent rights over patient rights?

ronny — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:52:12 +0100

Once again we bring you video from a political meeting held in Trondheim. - This time in English. Helene Bank from Attac is up against Olav Flaten from Glaxo Smith Klein, while Michael Golding from Medecins Sans Frontieres tries to hold som sort of middle position (?).

The meeting - Patent rights over patient rights? was arranged by NTNU/HiST Attac in cooperation with Cafe NordSør.

The official introductory text to the meeting was:

"While thousands of people in the South are dying every day from easily treatable diseases that we in the rich North consider harmless, hardly anyone is questioning the situation. WHY?

A few pharmaceutical companies basically have a world monopoly on drugs and they are focusing more of their efforts on the research and development of medication for the North's ever increasing lifestyle diseases. In addition, today's patent rights proclaim that poor
countries cannot produce cheaper copies of drugs that are desperately needed, and as such are benefiting only the affluent North.

What can be done to put patient rights over patent rights? Would a change mean greater access to medicine for all, or would it simply result in the pharmaceuticals abandoning the market of "southern diseases"? And at the end of the day, whose responsibility should it be
to create much needed drugs at a fairer price? The large corporations or the governments?

Is a different world possible?"

Michael Golding heads off

Olav Flaten talks a lot about all the charity work the medical industry is doing...

Helene Bank from Attac is slightly more critical towards the industry.

These are mere exerpts from the debate. If you want to view the entire thing, show up next time...

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Bank: Patent rights over patient rights?