Drugs could still be costly under World Trade Organization deal

A landmark deal that allows poor countries without any manufacturing capability of their own to waive international trade rules and import cheap copies of patented drugs is likey to be a complex procedure that may not reduce prices enough, experts say.

Protesters demanding a better deal for developing countries run on the beach in Cancun, Mexico, with “We are winning” on their bodies

Credit: AP PHOTO/VICTOR RUIZ

UN secretary general Kofi Annan issued a statement to the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico, last week, after the deal was clinched in Geneva, saying that it was a “moral imperative” for each of the organisation's 146 member countries to implement …