Aula 3 - Inglês
Read the text below and choose the correct alternative
WTO Agreement on Drug Patents
Developing countries won a _____ (1) victory at the World Trade Organization meeting earlier this
month in Doha, Qatar. The battle was over the rights of poor nations to produce life-saving drugs
during health emergencies.
More than one-hundred-forty countries attended the Doha conference. The group finally reached an
agreement after more than a week of debate. It permits developing countries to give so-called
"compulsory licenses" during national health emergencies. A compulsory license requires drug
manufacturers to share their inventions with competing companies.
_____ a drug company develops a cure or treatment for a disease, it seeks special rights to make
and sell the product. This special permission is called a patent. A patent prevents other companies
from making the same drug for a number of years _____ the patent is in force.
Under compulsory licenses, other companies are permitted to produce low-cost generic drugs.
These are copies of costly medicines patented by large drug companies.
In the past, a lack of understanding existed over the rights of developing countries to give
compulsory licenses. However, this issue was settled by the Doha agreement. Developing countries
are now able to give compulsory licenses when dealing with public health crises. These include
AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and diseases likely to spread quickly through the population.
Poor countries are not able to pay for costly drugs to treat diseases such as AIDS. So the debate
over drug patents is between rich and poor countries. International drug companies in Europe and
the United States oppose the Doha agreement. They say it will prevent drug companies from
seeking cures for diseases that affect the poor. Drug companies say they are forced to charge high
prices for medicines to pay for the high cost of their research. Drug patents are important because
they help companies recover money spent developing new medicines.
Developing countries, such as India, Brazil and South Africa, support the Doha agreement. They
say poor nations should be able to produce or import less costly generic drugs in times of health
crises. They say the goal is to reduce the cost of drugs to treat diseases that kill millions of poor
people every year.
(Jill Moss, VOA Special English Development Report, November 26, 2001)
1. The missing word in (1) is
a. ( ) mayor
b. ( ) minor
c. ( ) major
d. ( ) marjoram
e. ( ) majority
2. The conjunctions missing in paragraph 3 are respectively:
a. ( ) Because / when
