World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Geneva to allow poorer countries to obtain cheaper medicines have ended in failure.
There was optimism that the current round of WTO talks would find a way of implementing a deal hammered out in talks in Doha in late 2001 which allowed countries faced with a declared “health emergency” to obtain cheap generic versions of drugs.
However, there was a broad consensus amongst negotiators in Geneva that resource limited countries should be able to obtain generic versions of HIV drugs, and medicines to treat malaria and TB, even if they are protected by international patents.
Although talks are set to restart in February 2003, there is little hope amongst aid agencies that a consensus on a deal can be reached which will allow resource limited countries to obtain cheaper generic versions of drugs for treatment of other illnesses.
US negotiators said proposals before the talks were far too general, and are being accused by negotiators from resource-limited countries and aid organisations of seeking to put the narrowest possible interpretation on the Doha deal and of putting the interests of its domestic pharmaceutical industry first. However, the US is insisting that there is nothing in current international trade laws which would prevent countries facing health emergencies from making cheaper generics to treat diseases like HIV, TB and malaria, but that the proposals before the Geneva talks were unworkable, and would allow the breaking of copyright laws to obtain drugs for non-infectious conditions like asthma.
Another sticking point at the talks concerned the export of generic drugs to countries which lacked their own domestic pharmaceutical plant. Again there was agreement that this should be possible for HIV drugs, but there was no consensus on which other conditions should be covered.