A Humourless Lot» Logistics for health and aid: A Humourless Lot. Tag page for Freedom of information http://michaelkeizer.com/humourless Logistics for global health and aid Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:14:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Interception of generics in the Netherlands: latest developments http://michaelkeizer.com/humourless/2009/interception-of-generics-in-the-netherlands-latest-develoments/ http://michaelkeizer.com/humourless/2009/interception-of-generics-in-the-netherlands-latest-develoments/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2009 03:12:04 +0000 Michael Keizer http://michaelkeizer.com/humourless/?p=463 A short update on the interception by Dutch authorities of raw materials for generic drugs. Health Action International (HAI) has filed a request under the “Wet Openbaarheid van Bestuur” (the Dutch version of a Freedom-of-Information act) to obtain all documents related to the seizure. According to HAI: We hope to obtain documentation that will help [...]]]>

A short update on the interception by Dutch authorities of raw materials for generic drugs.

Health Action International (HAI) has filed a request under the “Wet Openbaarheid van Bestuur” (the Dutch version of a Freedom-of-Information act) to obtain all documents related to the seizure. According to HAI:

We hope to obtain documentation that will help to identify the operating procedures or events that allowed these seizures to occur and to determine why these seizures continued to occur over a period of time.

…

We hope that by exercising the right to access the public documents related to these cases, it will finally become clear how and why vital medicines were prevented from reaching patients and consumers in developing countries.

And in a related development: IDA Foundation, which is possibly the largest wholesale supplier of medicines to aid agencies, has sent letters to all relevant ministers and European commissioners (apparently no less than five ministers and two commissioners are involved…) expressing its concerns and asking for steps to avoid similar issues in the future. As IDA is based in the Netherlands and is a not unsizable employer themselves, their influence might help a bit as well.

I will keep following this closely. In the mean time: if you are based in the EC, or especially if you live in the Netherlands, or your organisation has strong ties there, please exert any influence you might have. This is an important issue that could have a serious impact on global health.

(Image: Freedom of Information? by Ian Parks.)

Related posts:

  1. Interception of generics in the Netherlands: Dutch courage?

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