"Activists are also worried about attempts to extend patent protection to beyond 20 years and measures to seize generic medicines as they cross borders," the AP writes. The article details last year's seizures of shipments of generic medicines in Europe that were being shipped from Asia and notes advocates concerns that the trade negotiations represent what they see as "an escalation of Europe's continuing fight against generic drugs," according to the news service.

The EU is "one of the world's biggest health aid donors and officials disputed their trade policies would undermine that," the AP writes. "We have no interest in preventing assistance to people who need drugs," EU Spokesman John Clancy said.  Roger Bate, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, Anne Roemer-Mahler, a global health expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Ken Shadlen of the London School of Economics are also quoted in the article (12/10).

Meanwhile, on Thursday, people living with HIV/AIDS protested against the deal outside EU offices in Nairobi, Kenya, Reuters reports. The article includes quotes from representatives from MSF and the EU, and patients living with HIV/AIDS (12/9).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.