Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Associated Press (12.06.05) - Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Sam Cage
"The amendment is designed to match the 2003 waiver as closely as possible," said a WTO statement. "In order to achieve this, delegations have been involved in intricate legal discussions aimed at ensuring that the legal meaning and weight, the hierarchy of provisions, are preserved as exactly as possible." The WTO's ministerial conference next week in Hong Kong is supposed to be a conclusion to the current Doha round of trade talks. WTO members have set Dec. 1, 2007, as the deadline for ratifying the amendment; ratification requires approval by two-thirds of the 148 members. The waiver remains in effect until that time.
US Trade Representative Rob Portman called the agreement "a landmark achievement that we hope will help developing countries devastated by HIV/AIDS and other public health crises."
"Measures like this that make cheaper drugs available need to be combined with stable and functioning health care systems and better public awareness of disease risks through education," said a statement from the European Union.
Doctors Without Borders was critical of the waiver: "To date there is no experience using the mechanism, not one patient has benefited from its use, despite the fact that newer medicines, such as second-line AIDS drugs, are priced out of reach of poor patients. This shows that the WTO is ignoring the day-to-day reality of drug production and procurement."
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