WTO plans more talks on drugs and TRIPS

Following the World Trade Organization's special one-day session on drugaccess issues in Geneva, Switzerland, in late June, the WTO has said its Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights agreement Council will hold further meetings aimed at ensuring that TRIPS is "part of the solution and not part of the problem of meeting the public health crises in poor countries."

While these issues include the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, this is "by no means the only problem," said TRIPS Council chairman Boniface Chidyausiku, adding that the Council would try to find "common understandings of the flexibility of the agreement" to ensure that developing countries are aware of their rights and can use them.

The Council will continue the discussion "in a more structured and systematic way," looking at the relevant issues topic by topic, he said. The WTO Secretariat will compile a checklist of all the relevant TRIPS provisions and the issues identified in connection with them. Mr Chidyausiku will hold an information meeting on July 25 to discuss this list, and a full day's formal discussion in the Council will then be held on September 19.