United States Holds Out on How to Give Poor Nations Access to Affordable Drugs

In Geneva on Monday, the United States held out against other members of the World Trade Organization in negotiations on how to ensure better access to cheap medicines for poor countries.

A third draft of an agreement has been produced that would allow some developing countries to ignore patents and buy generic drugs for diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. Many countries said they would accept the document, but the United States, which opposes its application to noninfectious diseases, and some others said changes were needed. The meeting was adjourned without agreement until Tuesday afternoon. The WTO is closed throughout the Christmas and New Year period, so the diplomats have until Friday to beat a year-end deadline.

At a meeting in Qatar last November, ministers recognized the right of WTO members to override patents on expensive drugs when public health is at stake. However, drugs made under such compulsory licensing were only to be used domestically, not exported. That means a country without a drug industry would be no better off, since it could neither make the drugs nor buy them. Developing countries, led by South Africa and Brazil, accepted the declaration reluctantly rather than cause the collapse of the bid to launch a wider trade round. In return, the WTO was instructed to solve the problem by the end of this year.

The biggest problem is agreeing which diseases to cover. Poor countries want to use the rules to deal with anything they consider a health crisis, but the United States, with support from a few other countries with large drug industries, wants it limited to infectious diseases. That would mean countries could not override patents on drugs for illnesses such as diabetes, cancer or asthma.

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