WTO to let poor countries import cheap drugs

GENEVA -- Heeding urgent appeals from African countries beset by AIDS, the World Trade Organization agreed Saturday to let impoverished nations import cheap copies of patented medicines needed to fight killer diseases.

Member nations had approved the idea in principle Thursday night but kept haggling over an accompanying statement meant to address some pharmaceutical companies' concerns their patents would be exploited.

But numerous African delegations pleaded with the diplomats to make a deal. They said in a joint statement that another 8,480 people had died unnecessarily in Africa from HIV/ AIDS and other diseases since the talks stalled Thursday.

"They showed that the poorest among us do make a difference in this organization," Canadian ambassador Sergio Marchi said after the decision. "They helped the WTO find its heart and soul."

Diplomats were also anxious to counter critics who say the WTO, which sets global trade rules, puts corporate profits in rich countries ahead of the suffering and death in poor ones.

Loophole for the desperate

The deal creates a loophole in WTO law that allows the most desperate countries to override patents on expensive drugs and order cheaper copies from generic manufacturers. Patent holders receive a small payment.

Until now, governments could only override the patents as long as they ordered the generic drugs from domestic producers. But most of the countries that need the drugs most urgently have no pharmaceutical industry of their own.

The biggest concern are AIDS drugs far too expensive for impoverished patients in Africa, where AIDS rates are extremely high. The average AIDS patient in the United States takes a combination of drugs that costs about $14,000 per patient each year, far beyond the budgets of developing countries.

Generic versions of those drugs cost would be a fraction of the U.S. figure.

"This is good news for Africa. It is especially good news for the people of Africa who so desperately need access to affordable medicine," Kenyan ambassador Amina Chawahir Mohamed said.

Abuse, smuggling fears

South African ambassador Faizel Ismail said his country plans to start using the new loophole to import desperately needed drugs at cheaper prices and also to put pressure on patent-holders to reduce the price of their drugs for poor nations.

Negotiators have been trying to settle the issue for almost two years but could not overcome U.S. opposition. Washington supported big pharmaceutical research companies that said generic manufacturers could abuse the new loophole to boost profits. They also feared that the drugs could be smuggled back to developed countries.

The deadlock was broken at last when the sides agreed to a statement that says the new rules "should be used in good faith to protect public health ... not be an instrument to pursue industrial or commercial policy objectives."

The deal calls for special measures to prevent drugs being smuggled back to rich country markets, including special packaging or different colored tablets.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations called the final agreement balanced.