Doha Declaration

Despite the breakdown of negotiations at the Fifth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, from 10-14 September 2003, a compulsory licensing agreement adopted by the WTO General Council prior to the Cancun meeting still stands1,2. The agreement will allow WTO members to import - under compulsory licences - drugs and in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) for various diseases that include but are not limited to HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis3-5.

The new agreement addresses paragraph six of the 2001 Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health , which called...