WTO reaches deal on cheaper drugs for developing countries
WTO reaches deal on cheaper drugs for developing countries
Agence France-Presse, Doha
WTO ministers meeting here early Monday agreed in principle on a compromise over access to cheaper drugs for developing countries, a source close to the negotiations said.
The text drawn up by a ministerial working group states that the WTO's intellectual property rights accord known as TRIPS "shall not prevent (WTO) members from taking measures to protect public health".
It also affirms that the agreement will be "interpreted and implemented in a manner consistent with WTO member's right to protect public health, and in particular, to ensure access to medicines for all."
A senior U.S. trade official, speaking to journalists on condition of anonymity, said they were approaching a deal.
"It does not mean a declaration is complete but I think the belief was, by last night, there was a closer agreement on a number of different issues and the group is planning to meet and continue to work through the day," the official said.
The deal -- if confirmed -- would be the first breakthrough at a meeting here in the Qatari capital of World Trade Organization (WTO) ministers, called to draft an agenda and timetable for a new round of trade liberalization negotiations.
The compromise would still have to be formally agreed by the WTO's plenary session on Tuesday.
An Egyptian delegate said agreement had been reached on "95 percent" of a compromise text on patents and medicines.
News of the reported deal was welcomed by World Health Organization expert German Velasquez, who told AFP that the text was "something very positive which goes in the direction of what had been proposed by developing countries".
The public health issue could technically be accepted independently, regardless of whether ministers agree on a new trade round, he said.
Developing countries, led by Brazil and India, had been calling on WTO ministers to change the current TRIPS -- trade- related aspects of intellectual property rights -- accord to allow them to override patents when facing a health crisis.
They have sought the right to have access to cheaper, generic medicines to treat sufferers of AIDS or other pandemics.
They arrived in Doha backing a text that said: "Nothing in the TRIPS agreement shall prevent members from taking measures to protect public health".
But the United States and Switzerland opposed the wording, saying the TRIPS accord already granted enough flexibility to allow poorer countries access to drugs in an emergency.