The dominance of the global pharmaceutical firms in providing medicine to the world's poor faces its strongest challenge yet at a meeting of World Health Organisation (WHO)... The existing system of drug patenting and pricing is fundamentally flawed and does not meet health needs, according to report released to health experts last month... The first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer was approved by the US Food and Drug administration last week. Its manufacturer, Merck, priced it at $500 for a course of three shots. That puts it beyond the reach of developing countries, where 80 per cent of cases occur... The pharmaceutical industry insists that it needs patent protection to recoup development costs... But the report says governments should devise an alternative system for drug development and patents on essential drugs should be lifted in poorer countries.