"This is an extremely important amendment. It gives legal certainty that generic medicines can be exported at reasonable prices to satisfy the needs of countries with no pharmaceutical production capacity, or those with limited capacity," Azevedo stated.
Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Lichtenstein, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates ratified the protocol in recent days, meeting the two-thirds threshold needed to amend the agreement.
The amendment will permanently allow poor countries to seek necessary medicines from third country producers, the release explained. Additionally, export countries can grant licenses for generic versions of needed medicines to countries lacking production capacity.
The amendment is the first change to the TRIPS agreement since its adoption in 1995.
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