As talks wrap up at the United Nations over ways to address a global tuberculosis epidemic, the U.S. has succeeded in removing language from a policy document that patient advocacy groups claim will make access and affordability more difficult for poorer countries.
Specifically, the U.S. has pressed other nations to change language referring to a World Trade Organization agreement that allows countries to issue compulsory licenses as a way to create lower-cost alternatives to medicines, according to the latest version of the agreement reviewed by STAT.
As a result, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote us, as the text of declaration currently stands, the U.S. government is not planning to issue any objections or seeking any further changes at this time. A final version was completed last Friday and submitted for final review on Monday.
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