U.S. Eases Drug-Patent Rules

The Bush administration scrambled to undo the public relations damage caused when it blocked an international agreement to allow developing countries easier access to generic versions of prescription drugs to combat AIDS, malaria, cholera and other infectious diseases. Just hours after World Trade Organization talks in Geneva broke down late Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced that the United States would temporarily allow nations to override American drug company patents and export inexpensive, generic versions of brand-name pharmaceuticals to help African and other very poor nations.

U.S. trade officials had been working on the backup plan during the last week of negotiations, as it became apparent that Washington might soon find itself in the position of being the sole obstacle to an agreement seen by many as a humanitarian imperative.

WTO members agreed in November 2001 that poor countries should, under international rules, be able to produce their own generics to deal with public health emergencies, without permission from the companies that hold the patents. Many poor nations, however, argued they did not have the industrial capacity to produce quality drugs, and asked that they be allowed to import generics. WTO members pledged to resolve that issue by the end of this year.

The talks collapsed, however, over the issue of which diseases would be eligible for patent exemptions. Major developing nations, such as Brazil and India, said drugs for a vast array of diseases, including cancer, heart disease and asthma, should be covered by the exemptions. The United States, pressed by the pharmaceutical industry, wanted to limit the list to infectious diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis. Pharmaceutical companies warned that broader exemptions would cut profits to such a degree that they would reduce their research into new drugs.

The U.S. plan -- essentially a unilateral implementation of the American negotiating position -- will be in place until an agreement is reached, said Zoellick. WTO members agreed to reconvene next year and try to reach a deal by Feb. 11.

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