WHO rapped for mislabelling Indian generics as counterfeits

The World Health Organization was urged on Friday to examine its links to big drug firms after criticism led by Brazil and India over the seizure of legitimate generic drug exports by European Union countries under trumped-up charges.

The two countries claim that major drug makers are unfairly labelling generic medicines as counterfeits, and using laws against patent infringements to suppress generic competitors who are making lawful generic drugs.

Major generic drug makers India and Brazil, backed by health activists, charge that concerns about counterfeit drugs are being hijacked by pharmaceutical companies keen to protect their patents against legitimate generic competitors.

"What we object to is a group of private companies, with the help of the (WHO) secretariat, waging war in this organisation against generic medicines," Brazil's ambassador Maria Nazareth Farani Azevedo said in a speech.

Member states of the WHO approved a resolution after four days of heated debate, which calls on the world body to reassess its ties to the pharmaceutical firms. The resolution called on the WHO to create a working group to work on combating counterfeit medicines.

It also called on the agency to examine its links with a partnership created in 2006 called IMPACT, the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce.