In a direct challenge to the world's pharmaceutical industry, the authors of a new UN report call on developing countries to strengthen their national laws in order to enable local production of cheaper, lifesaving AIDS drugs AIDS. Such an option can be pursued legitimately under compulsory licensing, a principle in international commerce that permits countries to "use patents without permission of the patent holder in return for a reasonable royalty on sale," says the Human Development Report 2001, released Tuesday by the UN Development Programme.