"On March 5-6, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council of the World Trade Organization will meet in Geneva to seal the fate of the proposal lengthening the TRIPS transition period for the 49 least-developed countries [LDCs]," Devex's "The Development Newswire" reports, noting, "The transition period, set to expire July 2013, exempts LDCs from the terms of the TRIPS agreement on patents and test data protection for pharmaceuticals." According to the news service, "The Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS] and U.N. Development Program [UNDP] [last] week backed the proposal by releasing a new brief that urges WTO members to mull the health, economic and development benefits of an extension."