The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes Canada's recent tabling of new legislation which, if passed, would allow drug manufacturers to export low-cost, quality medicines to the world's poorest countries.

"We commend Canada's rapid response to the dearth of quality and affordable medicines in poorer regions. We hope other countries will follow suit," said Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of WHO. "The move is timely as WHO and its partners gear up to get three million AIDS sufferers on anti-retroviral treatment by 2005."

Canada is the first country to propose changes to its patent legislation to put into practice a decision made by World Trade Organization (WTO) members on 30 August 2003, which allows exports of generic medicines to countries with insufficient pharmaceutical manufacturing. The initiative also emphasized that such medicines should not be resold or re-exported by recipient countries.

Once adopted, Canada's new legislation could lead to increased supply of life-saving medicines and further price reductions for developing countries. If replicated in other exporting countries, such a decision, coupled with increased efforts to improve health infrastructure and service delivery could be a major step in closing the treatment gap for millions of people who cannot afford the essential medicines they need.