U.S. blocks trade agreement on generic drug access in poor countries

Governments can override patents for legitimate purposes, including public health. But many small or poor countries hve no pharmaceutical industry to manufacture medicines themselves, and global trade rules being phased in will prevent others from exporting to them without the patent holder's permission. Negotiations to solve this problem broke down when the U.S. insisted that any agreement apply only to AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and similar major epidemics--excluding cancer, heart disease, and hundreds of other diseases.