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The United States at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting on Monday refused to agree to a third draft of an agreement on how to grant developing countries wider access to low-cost drugs, including antiretroviral drugs, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
US Ambassador, Linnet Deily said the US state department "still had difficulty" with the wording of the draft, despite 17 WTO members, including the European Union, agreeing to support the proposal.
The text proposed by the WTO chair, said generic drugs could be used to combat "public health problems ... especially those resulting from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics."
However, the United States and other countries want "narrower terms".
Following a meeting in Qatar last November, where ministers recognised the right of WTO members to override patents on expensive drugs when public health is at stake, the WTO was instructed to solve the problem by the end of this year.
The talks are scheduled to meet a 31 December deadline.
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