In an address to the participants of Geneva Week, Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said: “We are very close to bringing this important amendment into force and need only a handful of additional acceptances. I am very pleased to have received Papua New Guinea's acceptance of the protocol this week.”

The protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement, which was agreed in 2005, is intended to formalize a decision to ease poorer WTO members' access to affordable medicines. The protocol allows exporting countries to grant compulsory licences (one that is granted without the patent holder’s consent) to their generic suppliers to manufacture and export medicines to countries that cannot manufacture the needed medicines themselves. These licences were originally limited to predominantly supplying the domestic market.

The protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO members have accepted it. A total of 108 acceptances are required to reach this threshold. This will rise to 109 once Liberia becomes a member on 14 July 2016. Over 63 per cent of WTO members have so far submitted their instruments of acceptance.

The up-to-date list and map of members that have accepted the protocol are available here.

More information on the issue of TRIPS and public health is available here.