Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Thursday March 13, 2003
Clifford Coonan

"Last year we came very close when 143 countries agreed and we are still working on finding consensus. I'm quite optimistic that before too long we will have agreement," Supachai told reporters during a visit to meet German leaders.

A deal to let poor countries buy cut-price generic drugs to tackle diseases such as AIDS and malaria stalled in late 2002 when the United States effectively blocked an agreement, saying the rules could undermine patent protection for big drug firms.

U.S.-based Merck & Co. Inc. MRK.N , GlaxoSmithKline Plc GSK.L and Franco-German Aventis SA AVEP.PA for instance are involved in research for an AIDS vaccine. Switzerland's Roche Holding AG ROCZg.VX has a new HIV drug called Fuzeon costing a record-breaking 18,980 euros ($20,630) per patient per year.

WTO head Supachai, a former deputy prime minister of Thailand, said failure on the drugs issue would hamper world trade reform talks set to start in Cancun, Mexico, in September.

"If we go to Cancun having failed it would sour the atmosphere," he said after talks with German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul.

Supachai added he did not think there was any need for more negotiation on the actual text of an agreement as it would unravel all the achievements made so far.

The Cancun talks are aimed at clearing the way for the final stages of the round -- whose success, the World Bank says, would pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the global economy. But already many analysts are predicting "doom in Cancun".

Failure to reach a deal on drugs could also stymie progress in the overall negotiations, due to conclude by the deadline of January 1, 2005 to free commerce in areas ranging from agriculture to industry and financial services.

HEALTH EMERGENCIES

Access to cheaper medicines, either through a lowering of the cost of patented varieties or through generic alternatives, are vital for millions threatened by killer diseases -- malaria and tuberculosis as well as AIDS -- in Africa and elsewhere.

When they launched the Doha round of trade talks a year ago, trade ministers agreed that international patent laws could be set aside by countries facing health emergencies.

Under the Doha accord, countries with health emergencies could use so-called compulsory licences to order local pharmaceutical companies to make any drug needed, regardless of whether somebody else has it under patent.

But poorer countries without any domestic pharmaceutical industry face a problem because the system does not allow for the export or import of generic drugs.

Countries are split on whether the health emergencies covered by any accord should be limited to AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and on which states should be automatically entitled to use the system.

Supachai said there was no need to make definitions.

"There are hundreds of diseases which need treatment. Most members do not think the definition of diseases is necessary."

Rich members such as the U.S., the European Union and Switzerland, which have powerful drugs firms, want conditions for the use of compulsory licences, which poorer states reject.

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