Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-11-Speech-3-388"
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"en.20070711.32.3-388"2
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"Madam President, thank you for this very responsible debate on a very important issue. I would like to give a response to an issue which was raised by David Martin and some other speakers concerning what the Commission is doing in order to support technology transfers leading to the local production of affordable key pharmaceuticals. The issue also concerned what we are doing in the field of prevention, treatment and care as regards HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
This is one of the objectives of a specific initiative dedicated to aid for poverty-related diseases in the developing countries which provided a combined total of EUR 81.2 million over the past two years. The European Union is also a major funder of pharmaceutical and health-oriented clinical research including health systems research and capacity building in various sub-Saharan African countries through the European developing countries clinical trials partnership. Moreover, during the period of implementation of the Sixth Framework Programme for Research, EU support for R[amp]D devoted to poverty related diseases amounted to more than EUR 455 million. For the same period an additional EUR 78 million was spent by international scientific cooperation on various projects covering the fields of neglected infectious diseases, health systems policy research and reproductive health.
As you can see, the Commission is doing a lot to help developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, to enhance their access to affordable medicines, including local production capacity.
Is that enough? Probably not. Is the Commission ready to do more? Yes, provided we have the resources needed. And this is an area where Parliament has a key role to play.
There was another important issue raised concerning the fact that the mechanism has not yet been used, which implied that it does not work. It is important to understand how compulsory licensing works. The mechanism can operate without any compulsory licence actually being granted. The usefulness of compulsory licenses comes mainly in the leverage they give to developing countries in price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. In other words, compulsory licenses can deliver the expected results, i.e. make medicines more affordable without being actually granted.
Finally, I hope that Parliament has been reassured that access to medicines remains a very strong priority for the Commission and for the European Union. We hope that Parliament will give its assent to the protocol as soon as possible. The outside world would not understand a delay or refusal from the European Union. This would undermine the EU’s credibility as a whole in this field and as an international partner in general."@en1
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