GENEVA, December 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States Saturday, December 21, blocked an international agreement to allow poor countries to buy cheap drugs. This means millions of poor people will still not have access to medicines for diseases such as HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) suffered a setback when the United States failed to rally around a deal aimed at providing poor countries with better access to life-saving medicines, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Negotiators for the 144 member countries of the WTO admitted after a meeting of the ruling General Council in Geneva that they were bitterly disappointed at failing to meet a self-imposed deadline for an agreement before winter holidays.

However, they vowed to press on with talks in the New Year, and set a new deadline for a meeting scheduled on February 10 to 11, 2003.

U.S. negotiators said the deal would allow too many drugs patents to be ignored, according to the BBC news online.

Talks have been rescheduled, but the international medical organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), told the BBC that there was little chance of them succeeding.

The talks, held at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, broke up early Saturday.

"I have to say, there is no way to sugar-coat this bitter pill. We are disappointed," the Canadian representative, Sergio Marchi said.

"One-hundred and forty-three countries stood on the same ground, we were hoping to make that unanimous." He was apparently referring to the United States as the only country rejecting the deal.

"While we're disappointed, we're not disheartened, the cause is just and we need to redouble efforts next year," he added.

The principle of allowing developing countries access to cheap versions of drugs still protected by copyright had been agreed at WTO talks a year ago.

However, it is not clear if that principle can be turned into a detailed agreement that all sides are happy with. Under current rules, countries are required to respect drugs patents for 20 years.

Critics say this delays the production of much cheaper generic medicines, which are needed in developing countries because patients and health services can not afford the more expensive versions.

The WTO talks are aimed at relaxing the rules on intellectual property rights to enable countries in need to import cheaper versions of essential drugs.

While the talks have dragged on through the year, the problem of HIV/Aids has grown worse. Figures released by the United Nations last month showed that more than 40 million people are now living with the disease.

The United States said the proposed deal would mean that illnesses that are not infectious, such as diabetes and asthma, could also be treated with cheap, generic drugs.

The U.S. negotiator, Linnet Deily, said her country "could not meet the consensus on the issue".

In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 30 million people are estimated to be infected with the HIV/Aids virus.

African negotiators say the fears expressed by the United States are unfounded.

"Any attempt to redefine this declaration will unravel the careful balance achieved on many issues," Kenyan negotiator Amina Chawahir Mohamed told the Geneva meeting, AFP reported.

MSF told the BBC that it was now "time to find solutions outside the WTO".

"If there had been any flexibility to reach an agreement, the United States would have shown that flexibility.

"This is not just a failure of the Geneva talks, but of two years of negotiations," Ellen 'pHoen said.

She said individual countries should now go ahead and allow their own pharmaceutical industries to export to other countries that need cheaper drugs.

MSF argues that such measure is already allowed for under the 1994 agreement brokered by the WTO.

Such moves would almost certainly trigger disputes with the U.S. and major western drugs companies which the WTO would have to settle.