"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 spokesman 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 mediciines to fight killer diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Access to generic versions of antiretroviral 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."
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Sat Aug 30, 2:53 PM ET
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By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - A global trade deal cutting the price of vital medicines for poor countries has been welcomed by the world's big drug makers for the patent safeguards it offers.
For the $400 billion-a-year pharmaceutical industry, these checks should stop copycat drugs made in the Third World flooding premium Western markets.
But health activists said the safeguards in Saturday's World Trade Organization deal added such a mound of red tape and conditions that drug prices would not sink as low as they should in countries where AIDS and malaria ravage the population.
Companies that invent such drugs argue that without a patent, or 20-year monopoly, to protect profits, no one would invest to research such medicines in the first place.
Harvey Bale, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, welcomed the deal -- sealed on Saturday two days after negotiators reached it -- in a Reuters interview this week.
"We see this as a fairly balanced text which does provide flexibility to developing countries -- even flexibility to countries that aren't necessarily the poorest -- to address serious public health problems," Bale said.
"It's not perfect," he said, expressing fears that some not so poor countries might say they were special cases too.
Under the WTO pact, poor states with no drugs industry will be able to buy cheap generic, or copycat, drugs from countries such as India or Brazil to combat health crises.
They must, however, ensure none of these products end up on Western markets where patents are strictly enforced, and only buy drugs that save lives -- not "lifestyle" drugs such as the anti-impotence Viagra. The drugs must also not be used for commercial gain.
Under current trade rule exemptions, poor countries can make vital cheap generic drugs for domestic use, but not import them.
U.S. INSISTENCE
The United States, home to many major pharmaceutical firms, had resisted an earlier draft accord and insisted on tighter conditions to protect the patent owners.
Analysts said the final agreement was good for big research-based firms in several ways.
It should improve their public image after damaging rows, including a legal battle with South Africa, which has the world's biggest AIDS crisis, over intellectual property.
They have already taken steps to ward off accusations they put patents before patients by keeping antiretroviral medicines that can stop AIDS killing out of reach of the poor. In Africa, way less than one person in 100 can afford modern drugs.
For example, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world's largest maker of HIV/AIDS drugs, has cut the price of its leading Combivir treatment in poor countries by more than 90 percent over the last couple of years.
Also in the firms' favor, the markets involved are insignificant to them and the deal will have minimal financial impact. Many poor countries have scant patent laws, although most are due to sign up to regulation by 2016 at the latest.
Only about three percent of the 325 medicines the World Health Organization deems essential are protected by patents in developing countries, Bale's association says.
Activists, though, criticized the agreement, with Medecins sans Frontieres and Oxfam saying in a joint statement on Saturday it "does not provide a workable solution."
India's drugs companies, major makers of generic products, were also not satisfied.
"The policy is riddled with barriers which will make generic drugs more expensive than necessary," Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance chief D.G. Shah said after Thursday's draft deal.
"Poorer nations have accepted the conditions of the United States out of anxiety to reach a solution to their health problems."
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Thu Aug 28, 9:26 AM ET
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HANOI (AFP) - A Vietnamese government delegation will travel to the United States next week for a study tour on HIV prevention among drug addicts, the US embassy said.
The 12-strong delegation, which will be led by Deputy Health Minister Pham Manh Hung, also includes top officials from the public security, justice and labour ministries.
The group will review public health policies and HIV prevention and treatment activities for drug users during their September 3-14 visit, which is being sponsored by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The delegates will visit New York City and Atlanta, where the CDC is headquartered, the embassy said in a statement.
The United Nations, Western governments and international aid organizations are trying to persuade Vietnam to abandon its "social evils" approach to intravenous drug users.
"Social evils" is the term used by the government to describe a wide group of illegal activities including those of drug addicts and prostitutes, a hardline stance blamed for hindering efforts to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Southeast Asian nation.
Since Vietnam's first HIV carrier was discovered in December 1990 in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, more than 70,000 people have become infected with the virus in Vietnam, according to the health ministry.
Many international health experts, however, believe the real number of HIV carriers could be as high as 300,000.
There are around 142,000 registered drug users in the communist-ruled country whose addiction is known to the authorities, but experts say that in reality there are probably more than 200,000.
The official policy towards containing narcotics abuse is centred around sending repeat drug offenders to detention or detoxification camps for 24 months.
Experts, however, say harm-reduction policies involving information campaigns and needle exchanges are needed, an approach the government has tentatively begun to explore.
