UN health agency pledges to help poorer countries with access to generic drugs

Calling for speedy implementation of a new agreement allowing countries without proper capacity for pharmaceutical production to import cheaper generic drugs, the United Nations health agency has pledged to work with interested states to realize the full public health advantages of the measures.

The agreement covers all medicines. Among the diseases that could be more effectively tackled as a result of this decision are AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

"For the agreement to have the intended impact on public health, countries will need to review the full range of medicines required from multiple suppliers, including generic producers, when making purchasing decisions," the World Health Organization (WHO) said of the accord reached on Saturday.

"WHO will work with the countries which could make use of the new arrangements to assist them to achieve the full public health benefit from the lower prices," it added in a statement. "Given the urgency of the health needs in the poorest countries, the work to implement this agreement must proceed as quickly as possible. The full impact of the agreement will depend on how effectively it can be implemented in countries."

Breaking a deadlock over intellectual property protection and public health, member governments of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed at a meeting in Geneva on legal changes to make it easier for poorer countries to import cheaper generics made under compulsory licensing if they are unable to manufacture them themselves.

The decision settled the one remaining piece of unfinished business on intellectual property and health, left over from the 2001 WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, in preparation for WTO's Fifth Ministerial Conference, scheduled for 10 to 14 September in Cancun, Mexico.

It waives countries' obligations under a provision of WTO's intellectual property agreement that production under compulsory licensing in cases of medical emergency must be predominantly for the domestic market. This effectively limited the ability of countries that cannot make pharmaceutical products from importing cheaper generics from countries where pharmaceuticals are patented.

In the decision, WTO member governments agreed that the waiver would last until the provision is amended.