GENEVA - The World Trade Organization appeared set Thursday to rubber-stamp a deal for poorer nations to get anti-AIDS and other vital drugs more cheaply, but health activists blasted the pact as "disastrous."

(The) deal ... would be disastrous for poor people around the world. The text contains so much red tape and so many obstacles.

Oxfam

The United States and four key developing countries -- the states most closely involved in the long-running negotiations -- reached agreement Wednesday, clearing the way for the full 146-state WTO membership to give their approval.

Ensuring poorer states unable to manufacture medicines can import cheap generic drugs when they need to is seen as vital to beating major killers such as AIDS and malaria. But it means setting aside patents owned by multinational companies which are protected by trade rules.

Although most trade envoys expected the pact to be nodded through when the Geneva trade body's executive General Council resumed its session late Thursday, some trade officials noted that a couple of states had asked for further information.

"Some were noncommittal, and two in particular (Venezuela and the Philippines) wanted to ask some questions first," said one trade source. All WTO decisions are taken by consensus.

The five -- the United States, generic drug producers Brazil and India, and African representatives South Africa and Kenya -- were not a formal group but they were seen as representing all sides of the argument.

African countries, which face the worst epidemics of AIDS and malaria, applauded the pact as balancing their need for more drugs with the demands of the international pharmaceutical industry for restrictions to stop abuse.

"It (the deal) is intended to provide some comfort for the pharmaceutical industry," said South African trade envoy Faizel Ismail, who had played a key part in the talks.

ADDS CLARITY

There was agreement from big drugs companies, who say that without protection of patents they would not be able to invest in developing new drugs. The head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations said the wording was reassuring.

"This text adds clarity to the focus on the neediest and that is critically important," Harvey Bale said.

But British-based relief agency Oxfam said the accord, which could end a trade row that has been rumbling for nearly two years, would do nothing for poorer developing countries.

"(The) deal ... would be disastrous for poor people around the world," the agency said in a brief statement. "The text contains so much red tape and so many obstacles."

Some Indian drugs firms, leading suppliers of generics to other developing countries, were equally critical. "The policy is riddled with barriers which will make generic drugs more expensive than necessary," said D.G. Shah, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.

WTO states had been close to an accord at the end of last year, but Washington blocked the deal because U.S. drugmakers feared it could let generic companies in developing countries, such as Brazil and India, copy lifestyle drugs such as Viagra for export.

Under the new pact, the United States dropped its opposition in return for an accompanying statement spelling out some additional conditions.

Among them is a pledge by WTO states not to abuse the system and only waive patents to import generic medicines "in good faith," not for commercial gain.

Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler, Rosemary Arackaparambil

© 2003 Reuters Ltd

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