Europe opens new front against affordable medicines in trade deal with India, claims MSF

As free trade agreement talks between Europe and India resume in Brussels yesterday, the international medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it is deeply concerned about new measures Europe is pushing to restrict the production of affordable generic medicines that MSF and others rely on to treat patients across the developing world.

“Europe is now trying to negotiate a fast-track way for companies to challenge health policies and laws in India that support access to medicines,” said Tido von Schoen-Angerer, director of MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. “As a medical organization that relies on India for the vast majority of medicines we use, we are asking European governments to stop this relentless attack on people’s access to the affordable medicines they need to stay alive,” he added.

The European Union wants to push for greater intellectual property protection as a part of the “investment chapter” in the trade deal. These would allow European companies to sue the Indian government if they feel their profit, or “investment,” in the country is under threat for example through the country’s law or policies, MSF claims. A pharmaceutical company could therefore sue the Indian government if it decided to override a medicine patent, control the prices of a patented medicine or take any other action designed to boost access to more affordable generic versions of a medicine. These legal proceedings take place in secret by private arbitration, bypassing the national courts, and usually involve millions of dollars in damages.