Biotech Week | September 24, 2003
The World Trade Organization has delayed a decision on a measure giving poor nations access to inexpensive generic drugs, a move that would improve their ability to fight such diseases as AIDS and malaria.
The organization appeared poised to endorse the plan after the United States dropped its objections. But WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said later that the delegates had adjourned and it was "very unlikely" that a decision could be taken before a meeting of trade ministers from the WTO's 146 member countries in Cancun, Mexico opening September 10.
The delegates on the WTO's council of intellectual property resolved a dispute among panel nations over whether poorer countries should be allowed to ignore some patent rules in importing drugs from cheaper generic manufacturers.
U.S. representatives endorsed the plan after it was amended to include safeguards against drug smuggling, a key concern of the United States and its pharmaceutical research industry.
"This decision is extremely important for many African countries who need to be able to import generic drugs which are affordable and who don't have the capacity to produce them," said South Africa negotiator Faizel Ismail.
Under WTO rules, countries facing public health crises have the right to override patents on vital drugs and order copies from cheaper, generic suppliers. However, until now they could only order from domestic producers - useless for the huge majority of developing countries that have no domestic pharmaceutical industry.
U.S. pharmaceutical research companies were concerned that a deal to allow countries to import the cheaper drugs would be abused by generics manufacturers and could also lead to drugs being smuggled back into rich countries.
However, all sides have accepted that the problem has to be settled for humanitarian reasons and because of the damage it has done to the public perception of the WTO - the 146-nation body that sets rules on international trade.
The statement said that rules allowing countries to override patents "should be used in good faith to protect public health ... not be an instrument to pursue industrial or commercial policy objectives."
It calls for special measures to prevent drugs being smuggled back to rich country markets, including special packaging or different colored tablets.
The wording of the statement was agreed by a core group of negotiators from the United States, Brazil, India, Kenya and South Africa.
But the aid group Oxfam called the plan a "disaster."
"This would be a travesty of an agreement that would no doubt be presented as wonderful thing for development," said Oxfam's Head of Advocacy in Geneva, Celine Charveriat. "The text contains so much red tape and so many obstacles that if it were accepted developing countries would still struggle to get access to cheap medicines and thousands of people would continue to die unnecessarily."
A final decision by the entire body had been expected, but several nations at a late hour declared that they wanted to make formal statements. However, officials said other countries refused to agree. That set the stage for a later decision - most likely in Mexico.
Participants said that if the panel had failed to reach agreement, it would have thrown a huge cloud over the ministers in Cancun, complicating an array of trade liberalization negotiations.Biotech Week:
