The World Health Organization will endorse controversial generic triple-dose AIDS drugs next week, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

WHO will support distributing the pills, which could violate drug company patents, as part of a plan to get the lifesaving drugs to poor people, the newspaper said.

One of the generic combination pills is being made by a drug company in India, Cipla Ltd, and is sold there and in Africa for less than a dollar a day.

More than 40 million people worldwide are infected with the AIDS virus, which is incurable and always fatal. More than 25 million have died of AIDS.

Drugs can keep the virus under control, but they are expensive and out of the reach of all but a few of the people who are infected. Most patients live in Africa and have little access to health care.

WHO wants to change this and get drugs to 3 million people in targeted areas.

WHO officials and AIDS groups have been negotiating with the companies that make HIV medicines to persuade them to lower prices and to allow generic copies to be distributed without challenge.

In August the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations approved a World Trade Organization deal under which poor states with no drugs industry would be able to buy cheap generics.

In return they must ensure none of these products end up on profitable Western markets where patents are strictly enforced.

On Thursday four generic drug companies agreed to make HIV drugs available to millions of people in African and Caribbean nations at about half the current price.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton help negotiate the deal under which generic drugs would be offered at US$140 per person a year.

The drugs are not a cure but can control the virus so patients can lead near-normal lives. They may also make patients somewhat less likely to pass the virus to others.

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