World Trade Organization negotiators were staying tightlipped Tuesday amid rumors that they are on the verge of striking a deal on the long-deadlocked issue of ensuring that poor countries have access to expensive patented drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
"I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am trying to come away with a draft," said Vanu Gopala Menon, the Singapore ambassador who chairs the committee trying to solve the issue.
WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said a deal "seems to be imminent, but not today."
The envoys are desperate to settle the issue _ which is seen as crucial to restoring public confidence in the organization _ before ministers from all 146 WTO members meet in Cancun, Mexico in just over two weeks.
WTO rules already allow countries facing public health crises to override patents and order their drugs from cheaper, generic suppliers. But they can only order from domestic manufacturers, which is of no use for the majority of poor nations that have no pharmaceuticals industries.
In December of last year, all WTO members except the United States said they would sign up to an agreement that would have allowed poor countries to order their drugs from foreign manufacturers. But the U.S. refusal has blocked the issue ever since.
U.S. pharmaceutical companies are jittery about the deal because they fear that drugs destined for poor nations could end up being smuggled back into rich countries, cutting into their profits.
They also fear that generic manufacturers in large developing countries like Brazil and India could use the agreement to boost their own profits rather than acting out of humanitarian intentions.
Negotiators are working on a "chairman's statement" that would accompany last year's agreement and would set out how the measure would be used.
Although envoys have refused to give any hint of what would be in the document, pressure groups claim to have obtained a draft, dated Aug. 21. Diplomats declined to comment directly on whether the document was genuine, but the pressure groups said they would be unhappy if such a proposal is approved.
According to the draft, campaigners said, overriding patents "should be used in good faith to protect public health ... not be an instrument to pursue industrial or commercial policy objectives."
It calls for special measures to prevent drugs being smuggled back to rich country markets, including special packaging or different colored tablets.
Developed countries would agree not to make use of the provision, while the richest developing nations _ including Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel and Mexico _ would only use the measure in "situations of national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency."
"The proposed deal poses so many hurdles and hoops to jump through that we are really worried it may not work at all," said Ellen 't Hoen, spokeswoman for the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders.
"By continually demanding more restrictions, the United States seems to be pushing for a watertight system so that no generic drugs ever get through to the patients in developing countries who desperately need them."
