*EPF212 09/02/2003
WTO Members Break Deadlock on Drug Access for Developing Nations
(Agreement will ensure access to medicines by those most in need) (740)

By Wendy Lubetkin
Washington File Staff Correspondent

Geneva -- World Trade Organization (WTO) member governments have broken a deadlock and reached an agreement to facilitate access in developing countries to life-saving drugs to treat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other major diseases.

The August 31 decision by the WTO General Council will make it easier for poorer countries to import cheaper generic versions of patented medicines if they are unable to manufacture those drugs themselves.

"Today's action demonstrates how the members of the WTO can and do come together to promote the greater good," said Linnet F. Deily, the U.S. permanent representative to the WTO.

The agreement "ensures access to medicines by those most in need while not undermining intellectual property rights that foster the research and development necessary to produce life saving drugs," she said.

"We have traveled a long road together from the beginning conversations pre-Doha to our conclusion today, but none of us has lost the vision of our original concerns in responding to the horrific ravages that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other epidemics have brought to our world and particularly to the continent of Africa," Deily told the WTO General Council after the agreement was adopted.

WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi hailed the decision as a "historic agreement for the WTO."

The decision will enable poorer countries who lack domestic manufacturing capacity to "make full use of the flexibilities in the WTO intellectual property rules in order to deal with the diseases that ravage their peoples," Supachai said. "It proves that the organization can handle humanitarian as well as trade concerns."

Under current rules, countries have authority to use "compulsory licensing" to manufacture generic versions of patented drugs domestically during health emergencies such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but only as long as the medicine is intended primarily for use in the domestic market.

Many small and poorer nations, however, do not have the capacity to produce generic drugs. The August 30 decision takes the form of an interim waiver, which allows countries producing generic copies of patented products to export the products to eligible importing countries. The waiver will last until the WTO's intellectual property agreement is amended.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the consensus reached in Geneva marks "a big step forward, removing a major hurdle to a successful [WTO] Ministerial in Cancun and the overall Doha negotiations."

The WTO ministerial in Cancun, Mexico, is scheduled for September 10-14. The negotiations launched in Doha, Qatar, are scheduled to conclude by the end of 2004.

"I encourage everyone to continue in the same spirit to open markets for farm products, and goods and services, so that we can truly fulfill the promise and ambitions of Doha and promote global development and growth," Zoellick said in a statement released in Washington.

Following is the text of Zoellick's statement:

(begin text)

Statement of U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick
August 30, 2003
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"The issue of drug patents and access to medicines has been a top concern in the WTO for the last few years.��
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"Striking the right balance between addressing the needs of the poorest countries while ensuring intellectual property protections that foster the future development of lifesaving drugs had eluded us.�� The United States, working with other WTO members and our pharmaceutical industry, has strived to bridge the many differences and sought to develop with others constructive ideas about how to move forward.
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"I'm very pleased that today we've been able to strike this balance.�� The consensus now reached in the WTO is a big step forward, removing a major hurdle to a successful Ministerial in Cancun and the overall Doha negotiations.
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"I want to compliment the U.S. Ambassador to the WTO, Ambassador Linnet Deily, who worked many hours with developing countries, without which this would never have been brought to conclusion.�� The United States government appreciates the cooperative leadership of the executives of the pharmaceutical companies who are committed to developing the medicines of the future while helping those most in need today.
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"I encourage everyone to continue in the same spirit to open markets for farm products, and goods and services, so that we can truly fulfill the promise and ambitions of Doha and promote global development and growth."

(end text)

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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