'Production of quality affordable generic medicines is key in access to life saving /life-extending treatments for people who need it, and narrow national economic interests should not take precedence over a global commitment to save lives of People Living With HIV (PLHIV)...'. This message was brought out clearly at the recently concluded 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP), held in Busan, Korea.

The discounted price for life saving first line AIDS treatment has been brought down from the 2000 whopping price of $10,000 per person per year to the current $60, thanks to the Indian generic drug manufacturing companies. But Europe and other developed countries are pursuing aggressive trade policies that are likely to reverse the process. The European Union (EU) is negotiating with India, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and the US is involved in talks on Trans Pacific Partnership Agreements with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam.  These Free Trade Agreements (FTA) demand higher level of Intellectual Property protection expanding monopolies of multinational pharmaceutical companies and threaten the ability of countries to manufacture or import ARV generic medicines, thus restricting access to life saving medicines to millions of people in the developing world. To add insult to injury, the recent alarming spate of buy offs by multinational companies of Indian firms manufacturing generic medicines, is likely to push up drug prices manifold in the Indian market in the near future.

At a session organized at the 10th ICAAP, by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Kajal Bhardwaj, Independent Legal Researcher on HIV, health and human rights from India informed that "India is a key drug supplier to the world with 92% of patients on ARVs in low- and middle-income countries using generic drugs coming mostly from India. Also 67 % of medicines exports from India go to developing countries, and 75-80% of all medicines distributed by the International Dispensary Association are manufactured in India. However, in its FTA with India, EU is asking for strong Intellectual Property Protection which could stop the flow of affordable and life-saving medicines for millions of patients in developing countries."

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