News Release

Whose interests does the World Trade Organisation serve?

NB. Please note that if you are outside North America, the embargo for LANCET press material is 0001 hours UK Time Friday 24 Jan 2003

Peer-Reviewed Publication

The Lancet_DELETED

This week's Lancet editorial calls for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to clarify the alteration of trading restrictions to enable poor countries to access affordable medicines.

The USA recently rejected a proposal for a global deal which would enable less-developed countries to override patent laws by importing cheap generic drugs other than in the case of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The lack of US support on a global deal caused the December 31 2002 deadline about the special trading conditions available to poor countries to be missed.

The editorial concludes: 'Both the issue of special and differential treatment for developing countries, and agreement on which diseases should be covered by the draft plan on intellectual property and health, could-and we urge should-be discussed again at a WTO General Council meeting scheduled for Feb 10-11 in Geneva…It would be refreshing if public-health needs were put ahead of all others at the February WTO meeting, as they were in 2001 in Doha, and a global deal on access to medicines agreed.'

In a Viewpoint in this week's issue (p 341), Michael Friedman from Pharmacia, USA, and colleagues propose that, in appropriate instances, pharmaceutical patent holders should award out-licences (or voluntary licences) to generic manufacturers who agree to manufacture and supply medicines to poor, developing countries. Under the legally binding terms of these licence agreements, several generic manufacturers could compete against one another on price in poor countries, but would not be allowed to compete against the patent holder in rich countries, where revenues and the incentives for inventing new medicines would be undiminished. Use of out-licensing in this way, the authors argue, separates these fundamentally different markets, promoting access to affordable medicines for the world's poor, while reaffirming patents as indispensable for successful pharmaceutical research.

###

WHOSE INTERESTS DOES THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION SERVE? (p 269)


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.