Global Policy Forum

By Heather Stewart

A deal to provide cheap versions of life-saving drugs to the world's poor was finally agreed at Geneva this weekend after an impassioned appeal from several Aids-ravaged countries in Africa.

Next month's crucial World Trade Organisation summit at Cancun, Mexico, appeared in jeopardy on Friday after countries led by the Philippines threatened to block a deal. But agreement was reached on Saturday morning. Representatives from African countries had stressed the day before that more than 8,000 Africans would have died of HIV-Aids, and other diseases that were curable, since the negotiations hit deadlock earlier in the day. And more than 2 million would have perished since the US blocked the draft of the deal in December.

Back in 2001 WTO member countries agreed in principle that the patent regime should sometimes be waived, allowing developing countries to buy low-cost generic drugs.

Last week's talks broke down when the Philippines and other countries objected to the chairman's statement accompanying the draft deal which aimed to reassure the pharmaceuticals lobby by promising anti-smuggling measures to prevent generics being shipped back out of poor countries. Late talks on Friday, led by the South Africans, helped pacify the objectors as the African delegates underlined the urgency of reaching a deal.

Supachai Panitchpakdi, the director-general of the WTO, hailed the decision as historic. "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 to deal with the diseases that ravage their people."

But the campaigners Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontií¨res criticised the deal, which requires both exporting countries and countries importing cheap drugs to issue licences. Licences could entail taking on the might of the pharmaceutical firms which own the patents, and trade analysts believe few poor countries will be prepared to take that risk. The two groups said the deal had thrown up new obstacles and the chairman's statement added another layer of uncertainty that meant poor countries might not use the system.

Countries issuing compulsory licences are being required to pledge that the deal will not be used as "an instrument to pursue industrial or commercial policy objectives". However, the breakthrough represents a climbdown for the US government, which fought to limit the number of countries and diseases for which drugs patents could legally be lifted.

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