Row flares over global fight against fake medicine
Leading academics and health professionals hoped to provoke debate on the need for a new international law to prevent falsified and substandard drugs reaching the market with a paper published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday.
Their article, which sets out a clear case for a fake drugs treaty similar to existing ones on money laundering and human trafficking, comes a week before 100 states hold the first meeting of its kind to discuss the problem in Buenos Aires.
But lead author Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa said he was told on Monday by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that he and other non-governmental representatives could not attend, following an objection by India.
A WHO spokeswoman declined to comment on the details of particular invitations but said it was up to member states to determine who was permitted to attend. Indian officials, whose government is wary of multinational drug firms using the issue to curb competition, were not immediately available for comment.
Attaran called it a scandal that only government officials would be at the meeting in Argentina to discuss strategy.
The clash exposes distrust among governments, the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare campaigners about how to tackle fake and dangerous medicines, which are a growing problem in both poor countries and rich. Risks include ineffective
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