My Lords, this has been a stimulating debate and I sincerely thank all noble Lords and noble Baronesses who have taken part. That very much includes the Minister, who responded with her customary courtesy and thoughtfulness.
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. As ever, she brought up the issue of human rights and how they must not be trumped by intellectual property rights—sentiments I agree with 100%.
I thank the noble Lords, Lord Alton of Liverpool and Lord Crisp, who raised a question central to the whole issue of intellectual property rights: who actually pays for the investment in drug development? This is shrouded in secrecy and we must try to shed some light on it. I hope that we can explore that in discussion when we have the meeting the Minister has very kindly agreed to. Drug development is done not just by private companies; taxpayer-funded research and R&D institutions play a huge part, as do philanthropic organisations and NGOs.
I am very grateful to my noble friend Lady Walmsley for raising Section 57A, which the noble Lord, Lord Bethell, brought up as a defence against using
compulsory licensing. It is a moot point, as my noble friend said. I think that the argument the Government used would in fact nullify the whole concept of Crown use.
I thank my noble friend Lady Jolly for the focus she placed on the major challenges developing countries face, even more so now that DfID no longer exists and 0.7% has been reduced to 0.5%.
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Wheeler, for her words. She was absolutely right to draw attention to the collated briefing of the Royal College of Physicians and its partners in highlighting prices in the NHS for both generic medicines and those that enjoy patent rights.
I thank the Minister, and I will take her up on her offer of a meeting in due course. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.