US Sees Progress on Drugs at World Trade Organization Trade Talks

Trade negotiators have narrowed differences on how to reconcile protection for rich countries' patents on medicines with poor countries' demands for access to cheap drugs to deal with epidemics like AIDS, a senior US official said on Monday.

The dispute has dominated the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in the Gulf state of Qatar, where ministers are hoping to agree upon lower barriers to global commerce. The issue of patent rules -- known as Trade-Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, bitterly divides officials at the conference.

Developing countries, led by Brazil and India, are seeking waivers, on public health grounds, of rules that guarantee 20-year patents on medicines. Led by the United States, industrialized countries are reluctant to provide a waiver, fearing its impact on other patents and upon the $300 billion-a-year drug industry.

Washington has proposed extending to developing countries a ten-year extension on implementing TRIPS and a five-year moratorium on contesting drug patent actions taken by sub-Saharan Africa. Many believe that the US stance has been undermined by its threat to override patents on Bayer AG's Cipro in the current anthrax scare. Trade officials worry that the language of an agreement advocated by Brazil and other developing countries would open a huge loophole in WTO intellectual property rules and reduce profits -- and thus incentives for companies to develop new life-saving drugs.

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