Australia and the EU in the multilateral round: defining the common ground

[Conclusion]: There is much in common between the EU and Australia in the multilateral round. In fact we agree on far more issues than we disagree on. Indeed we are both deeply committed to an open and transparent multilateral trading system – in which all WTO members can participate and from which all can benefit. We have common interests in mobilising support for the Doha round, and we want to work together towards that end. The Doha Round gives us the chance to work with Europe on services, industrials, the dispute settlement understanding, and a range of proposals to assist developing countries. Even on the topic of agriculture where our views diverge, we have a productive and frank dialogue. Because, fundamentally, our differences on issues like agriculture are set against the backdrop of historic ties and pragmatic cooperation that characterises Australian relations with the EU. I am confident that, together, we can help chart a path to the successful conclusion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations at the WTO

'Linkage' pharmaceutical evergreening in Canada and Australia

'Evergreening' is not a formal concept of patent law. It is best understood as a social idea used to refer to the myriad ways in which pharmaceutical patent owners utilise the law and related regulatory processes to extend their high rent-earning intellectual monopoly privileges, particularly over highly profitable (either in total sales volume or price per unit) 'blockbuster' drugs. Thus, while the courts are an instrument frequently used by pharmaceutical brand name manufacturers to prolong their patent royalties, 'evergreening' is rarely mentioned explicitly by judges in patent protection cases. The term usually refers to threats made to competitors about a brand-name manufacturer's tactical use of pharmaceutical patents (including over uses, delivery systems and even packaging), not to extension of any particular patent over an active product ingredient. This article focuses in particular on the 'evergreening' potential of so-called 'linkage' provisions, imposed on the regulatory (safety, quality and efficacy) approval systems for generic pharmaceuticals of Canada and Australia, by specific articles in trade agreements with the US. These 'linkage' provisions have also recently appeared in the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUSFTA). They require such drug regulators to facilitate notification of, or even prevent, any potential patent infringement by a generic pharmaceutical manufacturer. This article explores the regulatory lessons to be learnt from Canada's and Australia's shared experience in terms of minimizing potential adverse impacts of such 'linkage evergreening' provisions on drug costs and thereby potentially on citizen's access to affordable, essential medicines

Cardiovascular responsiveness to sympathoexcitatory stress in subjects with and without mild hypertension

Purpose: This study compared blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV) and forearm blood flow, at rest and in response to sympathoexcitatory stressors between normotensive and mildly hypertensive participants.\ud \ud Methods: Participants aged 30–79 years with normal blood pressure (n = 49) or mild hypertension (n = 17), with no history of taking antihypertensive medication, were recruited. Participants completed a cold pressor test (CPT) followed by an ischaemic handgrip test (IHGT). Blood pressure, HRV, forearm blood flow and vascular resistance were measured at rest and in response to each test.\ud \ud Results: The CPT and IHGT evoked greater increases in mean arterial blood pressure in hypertensive participants (CPT: 10 ± 2 mmHg, IHGT: 9 ± 1 mmHg) compared with normotensive participants (CPT: 5 ± 1 mmHg, IHGT: 3 ± 1 mmHg; P<0.05). Resting high frequency power, which is a parameter of HRV associated with parasympathetic cardiac modulation, was lower in hypertensive participants (hypertensive: 31.73 ± 4.07 nu; normotensive: 42.08 ± 2.22 nu; P = 0.026) and was negatively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r = -0.272, P = 0.03) and mean arterial pressure across all participants (r = -0.258, P<0.05). There were no differences in HRV or forearm blood flow responses to the CPT or IHGT between groups.\ud \ud Conclusion: This study demonstrated that sympathoexcitatory stress evoked by the CPT and IHGT induces an augmented blood pressure response in individuals with mild hypertension, which supports the notion that autonomic dysfunction is likely to contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension. It remains to be determined whether the hypertensive response is mediated through alterations in cardiac activity, peripheral vascular resistance or both