Trade negotiators said today they saw a glimmer of hope for progress on the vexing issue of allowing poor countries access to life-saving drugs, thanks to a Brazilian proposal aimed at soothing US concerns.
In informal free-trade talks in Tokyo, ministers from more than 20 countries hashed out ideas for ending a row between the United States and developing countries over the relaxing of global patent rights on drugs.
While the weekend discussions failed to break the impasse, delegates said a plan floated by Brazil yesterday may have brought a global pact on drugs a step closer.
At stake is an accord that would allow poor countries without domestic drug industries to set aside patent rights and import vital medicines to tackle epidemics.
"This is not a disagreement about HIV-Aids, tuberculosis, malaria or other epidemics -- or Africa," US Trade Representative Mr Robert Zoellick told a news conference.
"We will continue to work with others towards a multilateral solution within the WTO."
Mr Zoellick declined to comment specifically on the Brazilian idea on the grounds that it wasn't a formal proposal, but other delegates praised it as a constructive contribution. Under the plan, the World Health Organisation would decide whether poor countries had the capacity to manufacture generic drugs themselves to tackle public health crises.
If not, they would be able to import cheap copies of drugs developed by major pharmaceutical firms based in richer states from manufacturers in countries like India, Thailand and Brazil.
"Brazil's answer was that if the concern of the U.S. is that countries that might have manufacturing capacity pretend they don't have one, then the WHO can be used as a check," European trade chief Mr Pascal Lamy said.
"It's following from the same idea that we need somebody in the system in which you can trust. The problem we have on this is that there's too much mistrust around the table."