Compulsory license stymied

The World Trade Organization has failed for the third time to come up with a mechanism under which international trade regulations could be modified to allow poor countries that lack pharmaceutical manufacturing to import medicines under compulsory licenses. Instead, they have asked an advisory council to come up with recommendations by year end.

Last month's WTO meeting once again failed to resolve a key question that was left hanging at the organization's meeting in Doha, Qatar, last November, where WTO members had discussed public health issues related to the Agreement on TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). At that time, they adopted a declaration about a government's right to override a patent and authorize another manufacturer to make a drug without the patent owner's approval (see BioCentury, Nov. 5 & Nov. 19, 2001)...