ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE MEDICINES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
 Thousands of men, women and children with treatable diseases die every week in developing countries because the medicine they need is simply too expensive. At the same time customs officers, following requests by pharmaceutical companies fearing patent infringement, are seizing perfectly legitimate generic drugs destined for these countries.
A new Working Group on Innovation, Access to Medicines and Poverty-Related Diseases has been established to put the needs of poor patients in developing countries before the profits of the big drug companies.
Speaking at the launch, David Martin stressed:
“The EU has a major impact on the access to medicines for developing countries, through its policies, legislation and bilateral and regional trade agreements. It is vital that the EU adopts appropriate measures to improve access to existing medical tools and stimulates research and development into methods for treating the suffering poor of developing countries."
David is Chairperson of the new group and Labour’s spokesperson on International Trade in the European Parliament.
See article in Pharma Times: http://www.pharmatimes.com/WorldNews/article.aspx?id=17336 | 
European Year to Combat Poverty 
A call for support for Chambers Harrap, the oldest remaining Scottish publisher (established in 1819) to remain in Edinburgh. David Martin MEP recently met with Liam Rodger, National Union of Journalist (NUJ) representative at...