The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries said Wednesday a solution that was "straightforward and easy to implement" had to be found before a key WTO meeting in September.
The 146 members of the Geneva-based global trade body are trying to draw up an agreement that would ensure developing nations without the capacity to manufacture drugs can import generic copies of patented medicines in a health crisis.
Negotiations became deadlocked in December when the United States, under pressure from its pharmaceuticals industry, blocked an accord which had won backing from all the other WTO members.
Washington was worried that the new regime could be open to medicines for conditions such as impotence or diabetes.
The ACP group called "disheartening" efforts to try and resolve the issue at the WTO, and urged a resolution before trade ministers meet in the Mexican resort city of Cancun from September 10-14.
It criticised the US' position, saying it would not accept "any attempts to roll-back the commitments made in the interest of public health" by trade ministers at their 2001 meeting in Doha, Qatar.
At those talks, WTO members vowed to resolve the issue by the end of 2002. The WTO's council that discusses intellectual property rights, including patents, was meeting here Wednesday and Thursday.
However, the ACP group acknowledged the US' moratorium against taking countries to task before the WTO dispute body on the matter.
The group said it could not endorse a proposal by the European Union, made in January, that involved a list of diseases to be covered and suggested seeking the advice of the World Health Organisation for those not listed.
ACP countries reject restricting to a fixed list the diseases covered by the new regime, or to restrict its coverage to national emergencies and other circumstances of extreme urgency.
Trade ministers, in their declaration in the Qatari capital of Doha, referred to "public health problems afflicting many developing and least-developed countries, especially those resulting from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics".
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