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Activists say Obama blocking poor nations' access to affordable drugs
Reporting from Washington - Activists in the U.S., as well as Thailand and other developing countries, have accused the Obama administration of blocking greater access to affordable drugs in a bid to win the pharmaceutical companies' support for its healthcare overhaul.
Organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam International -- an anti-poverty group -- said they had hoped President Obama would join them in the fight to make generic drugs available to combat disease in impoverished countries.
But "it appears that Obama appointees are continuing to work from the playbook of the last administration," said Oxfam policy advisor Rohit Malpani. The British-based group had opposed President George W. Bush's trade policies as being detrimental to public health.
Obama officials have rejected the criticism, saying that the president remained committed to the international health goals he embraced during the campaign and already had initiated trade policy changes.