PESHAWAR, June 1: Speakers at a seminar on Thursday warned that enforcement of intellectual property laws could halt manufacture of generic medicines in developing countries and push up prices of life-saving drugs.

Speakers at the seminar on ‘WTO agreements and public health,’ organised by The Network, said patent laws called for a 20- year ban on production of products by other firms.

This would affect poor countries where generic medicines were available at low prices, they said.—Correspondent