Canadian Sen. Yoine Goldstein earlier this week proposed a bill that would reform Canada's Access to Medicines Regime by expediting the process of exporting generic drugs for diseases such as HIV to developing countries, the Ottawa Citizen reports. The bill would address provisions in the Patent Act, which in 2004 was amended to create exemptions to intellectual property rules, thereby allowing generic drug manufacturers to produce low-cost drugs for diseases in developing countries.

Since 2004, only one shipment of drugs has been exported by the generic drug manufacturer Apotex. At the time of shipment, Apotex reported the process was too cumbersome and costly and that it did not plan to use CAMR again, the Citizen reports. "The red tape that is built into the legislation inhibits people from doing it -- they just don't want to be bothered," Goldstein said, adding, "The truth is this (reform) should have been done a long time ago." The law currently requires generic pharmaceutical companies to qualify for each individual shipment of drugs exported…