The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Saturday approved a deal to allow poor countries to have access to cheap drugs to fight killer diseases, a breakthough that could save millions of lives among the world’s most destitute.
”This is a historic agreement for the WTO,” said the organisation’s director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi.
”The final piece of the jigsaw has fallen into place allowing poorer countries to make full use of the flexibilities in the WTO’s intellectual property rules in order to deal with the diseases that ravage their people.”
Kenya, one of the developing countries that had lobbied for the deal to be approved, also hailed the move.
”It’s good news for Africa, and especially good news for the people of Africa who so desperately need access to affordable medicine,” said Kenyan ambassador Amina Chawahir Mohamed.
But not everyone welcomed the agreement. International humanitarian organisations Oxfam and Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a joint statement that the deal was ”flawed” and ”does not offer a workable solution”.
”Today’s deal was designed to offer comfort to the US and the Western pharmaceutical industry,” said Ellen T’ Hoen of MSF.
”Unfortunately, it offers little comfort for poor patients. Global patent rules will continue to drive up the price of medicines.”
The epic struggle to reach an accord on generic medicines epitomises the divisions between the haves and the have-nots in the international community, and highlights the battle over globalisation.
”Several minutes ago, the General Council took one of its most important decisions,” WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell said in announcing the bitterly-fought breakthrough.
The deal is designed to allow poor countries which do not have their own pharmaceutical industries to import cheaper, generic copies of patented medicines to fight killer diseases such as Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.
Access to generic versions of anti-retroviral Aids drugs is a life-or-death issue for the estimated 30 million Africans suffering from the disease, according to UN figures — out of a total 42 million worldwide.
WTO negotiators had appeared to reach a deal on Wednesday, when a compromise proposal emerged with backing from the United States, which had blocked earlier initiatives to boost access to generics for poorer countries.
But the talks ran into new obstacles on Friday, when the Philippines led a number of developing countries in voicing serious doubts over how the new rules might be interpreted once in place.
The turning point came later on Friday when African nations made an emotional plea for the deal, trade sources said. Delegates from Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe lobbied opponents to reconsider.
The Moroccan ambassador told assembled delegates that 2,18 million Africans had died from HIV/Aids and other killer diseases since the initial text of the accord was drawn up on December 16, the sources said.
Back in December, it was US opposition that brought down the proposal, which then enjoyed the support of every other WTO member.
Saturday’s deal resolves an issue that has cast a deep shadow over global free trade talks since late 2001.
It comes less than two weeks before ministers from the 146 WTO member countries gather in Cancun, Mexico to take stock of progress in the Doha round of negotiations on a new global trade treaty, currently running way behind schedule.
Welcoming the deal, Supachai said: ”It proves once and for all that the organisation can handle humanitarian as well as trade concerns. It also gives WTO members a good momentum to take to the ministerial conference in Cancun.” ‒ Sapa-AFP