Indonesia has told the WHO it won’t be getting any more bird flu samples unless there are guarantees in place that ensure developing countries get access to affordable vaccines. The country wants a “material transfer agreement” to prevent samples it provides being used for commercial gain (Reuters). This demand appears to have stalled talks being held in Geneva.

“Talks hit a deadlock because the health minister was relentless in pushing for a material transfer agreement for each virus sample, but not everyone agreed to that," a spokeswoman for the country’s health ministry told Reuters. “We hope that negotiations will continue. But for her [the Indonesian health minister] one thing remains unnegotiable. We will not send samples overseas without an MTA.”

The WHO is not happy. “A pandemic will reach every corner of the earth and it will do so within a matter of months. The sharing of currently circulating viruses is the only way to monitor the emergence of drug-resistant strains,” said its director general Margaret Chan (AFP).

Indonesia is also angry about another set of samples that have already been taken out of the country…

The samples in question here are from a patient known as the Tree Man – who has root-like growths from his hands and feet (Telegraph). “If they are taken abroad, they could become lucrative commodities,” said health minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, who is apparently worried that any treatment developed could become a lucrative asset for its developer.

The doctor treating the man, called Dede, responded, “We did take samples, and the reason we did was to render a diagnosis. We did it for humanitarian reasons, to help the patient.”