(add more details, WHO comments) JAKARTA, March 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia will resume sending bird flu virus samples to the World Health Organisation (WHO) only after a global mechanism on virus sharing is in place, the health minister said on Wednesday. In a controversial move, Jakarta declared last month it had stopped sharing H5N1 samples with WHO, saying it would only share them with parties who agreed not to use them for commercial reasons. The two sides then struck a deal on Feb. 16 to resume sharing samples, but under a new framework to give developing nations access to vaccines. "But we have to make that agreement become a legally binding one. For that purpose, we have to hold a ministerial meeting and then make it a consensus," Siti Fadillah Supari told reporters. She said WHO has agreed that virus samples sent to it would be used only for research and not commercial purposes. Supari said the sharing mechanism would be discussed at a meeting of health ministers from the Asia Pacific region and select countries on March 27-28 in Jakarta, but the new mechanism would still need to be discussed at a WHO advisory board meeting in May. Asked when Indonesia would send virus samples, Supari said: "When the new rules are applied. At least May." Indonesia had previously said it had restricted sharing samples with foreign laboratories because it was unfair for foreign drug firms to use the samples, design vaccines, patent them and sell the product back to the country. The issue has sparked debate in the medical community. Some health and aid agencies condemned Indonesia for refusing to share samples, while others defended the stance because developing countries often struggle to get access to life-saving drugs due to patent laws and high costs. Sharing of virus samples is crucial as it allows experts to study their make-up and map the evolution and geographical spread of any particular strain. Samples are also used to make vaccines. "The policy framework is not laid down in two-three days, sometimes it may take years. But we will take the policy framework forward as quickly as possible," said Nirmal Ganguly, advisor for health research at WHO. WHO plans to create a network for sharing of virus samples, including bird flu virus samples, among several Asian countries as they are continuously facing emerging and reemerging infections, Ganguly told reporters. "If we can do complete physical mapping of the avian flu virus, why we need to go out of Southeast Asia?" he said. "We want to create a system or a model which will work globally, but first we need to create a model where countries cooperate and work together." Indonesia last month signed a preliminary agreement with a unit of pharmaceutical firm Baxter International Inc. Under the pact, the health ministry's research and development institute will supply the U.S. firm specimens of H5N1; Baxter will provide technology to help develop a vaccine. Indonesia, which has millions of backyard fowl, has had 63 human deaths from bird flu, the highest in the world.
