WTO medicine deal delayed
A deal to provide cheap drugs for killer illnesses such as AIDS to the world’s poorest countries has stalled due to an argument over the wording of the deal.
Negotiations have been continuing at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since the US, Brazil, India, Kenya and South Africa agreed to lift patent restrictions on a number of drugs used to treat deadly illnesses.
Over 140 WTO members agreed to the deal earlier this week that would have seen developing nations being given access to cheap drugs. The principles behind the deal were agreed nearly two years ago, but talks were dragged out because of fears that drug patents would be ignored.
The patenting of drugs means that they cannot be copied for twenty years to ensure that the pharmaceutical companies can reclaim the costs to research and develop the drug.
The WTO talks aimed to release some of the drugs used to treat malaria and AIDS from their patents to ensure that countries in Africa and Asia can afford to treat the millions of sufferers in their countries.
It is believed that over 20 countries are objecting to the ‘chairman’s statement’ on the agreement.
Previously the deal was blocked by the US in December, because it would have allowed too many drug patents to be ignored, especially for the treatments of non-infectious illnesses such as asthma and diabetes.
The US wants to ensure that these cheap generic drugs do not find their way back into markets of rich countries.
