IGBA Releases Trade Principles to Foster Trade in Generic and Biosimilar Medicines
GENEVA – 26 June 2019 – The International Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association (IGBA) today released a revised report Trade Principles: Generic and Biosimilar Medicines which addresses how trade agreements can be designed to foster trade in generic and biosimilar medicines and improve access to affordable medicines.
The report highlights five key areas of trade agreements where decisions made can have a profound impact on the trade in generic and biosimilar medicines: regulatory approaches, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property, competition/anti-trust safeguards and incentives.
“While trade agreements should be focused on facilitating trade between countries, all too often we see agreements that erect new barriers to the trade for generic and biosimilar medicines manufacturers and hinder access to affordable medicines” said Jim Keon, who serves as Chair of the IGBA and its International Trade and Intellectual Property Committee.
“The removal of such barriers would reduce costs for the development of generic and biosimilar medicines and ensure that such products can be traded freely and enter markets without delay,” he added.
Keon cited the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as an example of a recent agreement that will be harmful to the trade in generic and biosimilar medicines, and delay patients’ access to affordable medicines.
The IGBA report Trade Principles: Generic and Biosimilar Medicines is available here
Contact: Suzette Kox This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
