USTR Zoellick highlights differences with EU on how UN AIDS money will be

A letter from US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick to TradeCommissioner Pascal Lamy, his counterpart at the European Commission (acquired by the New York Times) has highlighted differences over how money raised by the United Nations to combat HIV/AIDS will be spent, especially in terms of pharmaceutical products.

The USA's Bush Administration favors a voluntary system of discounts as opposed to the creation of either one of regulating world drug prices or a database where drug prices can be posted. On the other hand, the NYT says, European Union Council resolutions and various countries back the creation of what they call a "tiered pricing system," and feel that poorer countries should be able to buy cheaper generic drugs from nations that ignore western patents. They also favor the creation of a database to list all prices from any supplier and whether that business is reliable.

Concerned EU Commission is endorsing a tiered pricing system