Archive

Keith Nuthall
THE INDIAN government has abandoned its appeal against last December’s World Trade Organisation ruling that it had broken global commerce rules by insisting that auto-manufacturers within its territory not only promise to buy some components locally, but that they export products of an equal value of imported inputs.…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
JAPANESE truck manufacturer Nissan Diesel is considering sourcing components from South Africa to benefit from the tariff reduction plans implemented by the Pretoria government to develop the national motor industry, local press reports claim.

The Japanese company has indicated that it intends using South Africa as a base from which to expand truck exports into the rest of Africa.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FRANCE and Luxembourg have been referred to the Europe Court of Justice on the grounds that their compulsory no-claims bonus systems for third-party motor insurance are in breach of the EU’s insurance regulations. In both countries premiums are determined by “detailed, mandatory criteria laid down by law that are incompatible with the freedom to market insurance products,” the European Commission said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has issued a new medical guide for international travelers, including advice on vaccinations and other preventative medicines, especially where diseases have spread to new areas, new diseases have appeared and drug resistance has developed in pathogens.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has proposed reforms to the World Trade Organisation’s trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement that would enable developing countries with no domestic drug production to gain access to essential medicines. At a meeting of TRIPS council, Brussels proposed an amendment allowing the importing council to licence manufacture of medicines in another country, in case of an emergency.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
SCIENTISTS from the Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research in Australia claim to have made a crucial step forward in the study of schizophrenia, which could help the pharmaceutical industry develop new vitamin D enriched drugs to treat the condition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FORMAL proposals have been released by the European Commission for a programme to help spread medicines fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries. The plans include budget lines of Euro 26.1 million, covering aid from January 2003 to December 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is being urged, by a working party helping it write new welfare rules on laboratory animals, to take account of the effect of better conditions on experiment results. Tests have shown that subjects in comfortable surroundings are healthier than those in poor accommodation, and that these environmental factors should be considered when assessing results.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LETTER signed by 108 scientists and researchers has been sent to the European Commission, calling for a greater priority to be given to biomedical studies in the oncoming Euro 16.2 billion Sixth Framework Programme for research. The experts, from the EU, the USA, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland, the Ukraine and Israel, claimed that although the preceding fourth and fifth programmes earmarked significant sums of money for their subject, the new scheme “offers little or nothing for them.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INCENTIVES designed to encourage European pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop specialist children’s medicines have been proposed by the European Commission; its consultation paper also suggests ways of increasing the testing of existing general medicines for their effectiveness and safety regarding young patients.…