Main Subject - Business

You’re buying coffee. One label says this roasted mountain-fresh Colombian coffee is ideal for all coffee makers. But is it ideal for the coffee bean’s maker, the farmer? Your

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

choice is empowering. When you choose fair trade, you get more than coffee; you get the opportunity to enrich someone’s life.

What Is Fair Trade?

Fair trade is an inte

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

national alternative trading system designed to empower disadvantaged farmers, artisans, and labourers. The movement began 50 years ago when international aid organizations wor

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

ed to help farmers and labourers in Africa break free from oppressive trading practices. These inequitable trading practices still exist today.

Farmers and artisans in develop

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ng countries rely on intermediaries for market information and trade. These middlemen usually pay less than market price and keep the producers trapped in a cycle of poverty. S

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

all-scale farmers can’t afford to produce the crop. They can’t afford the overhead or their financing’s interest rates. They abandon their farms, or, in the case of some cocoa

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

producers, they “employ” unpaid workers, often children.

Through fair trade, farmers and artisans deal directly with members of fair trade organizations, bypassing the middlem

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

n and receiving a fair and sustainable wage for their work. According to the Fair Trade Federation, the goal of a member organization is “to benefit the artisans they work with

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

not maximize profits. By reducing the number of middlemen and minimizing overhead costs, FTOs (fair trade organizations) return up to 40 percent of the retail price of an item

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

to the producer.” Producers receive a fair wage for their product, children are not exploited, and long-term relationships are encouraged to provide continuity in trading. Fair

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

trade considers the enduring well-being of the person behind the product.

Who Decides What’s Fair?

In Canada, the Fair Trade Certified logo is managed by TransFair Can

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

ada, a nonprofit organization that belongs to the international Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO). Use of the logo comes with very strict rules and terms, to which all memb

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

rs are bound by contract.

The Canadian Fair Trade Certified logo is applied to product-specific items only, meaning that the product, not the company, is certified as fair tra

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

e. On the other hand, the Fair Trade Federation logo identifies the company as a certified member. Two of the largest members in the US are Ten Thousand Villages and SERRV Inte

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

national.

The Fair Trade Federation and FLO monitor their producers and members. They ensure that the playing field of trade is level and fair. For the consumer, these logos a

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

sure that the goods are produced in environmentally responsible conditions and that the cultures and communities of the worker are respected and sustained.

Is It Working?
ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
b>

Yes. According to the Fair Trade Federation, sales for Ten Thousand Villages in the US and Canada between 1985 and 1998 increased by nearly $15 million, creating over 12,00
y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
full-time jobs for artisans and farmers.

As more consumers use their purchasing power for social justice, large corporations consider the fair trade alternative. Currently, t
.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de
ere are 117 Canadian fair trade licensees, and 44 source countries are registered with the FLO. Today’s fair trade products include crafts, coffee, tea, chocolate, soaps, cosme
elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip
ics, sugar, and fruit. Coming soon are wines, nuts, oils, and more.

A consumer in Canada buys fair trade and a child in Colombia goes to school.

That’s a strong cup of coffee

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Main Subject - Fair Trade Fundamentals

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