A ‘crisis in waiting’ for AIDS patients

Seven years after an agreement at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow developing countries to import inexpensive copies of costly patented medicines, the compromise has failed to deliver on its promise as a pharmaceutical lifeline for the global poor. Since the 2003 compromise was reached, just a single shipment of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), the only effective treatment for HIV infection, has been delivered under its terms.