[Ip-health] Lancet: Trade, TRIPS, and pharmaceuticals

[Matt Price]

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http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608617791
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The World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) set global minimum standards for the
protection of intellectual property, substantially increasing and expanding
intellectual-property rights, and generated clear gains for the
pharmaceutical industry and the developed world. The question of whether
TRIPS generates gains for developing countries, in the form of increased
exports, is addressed in this paper through consideration of the importance
of pharmaceuticals in health-care trade, outlining the essential
requirements, implications, and issues related to TRIPS, and TRIPS-plus, in
which increased restrictions are imposed as part of bilateral free-trade
agreements. TRIPS has not generated substantial gains for developing
countries, but has further increased pharmaceutical trade in developed
countries. The unequal trade between developed and developing countries (ie,
exporting and importing high-value patented drugs, respectively) raises the
issue of access to medicines, which is exacerbated by TRIPS-plus provisions,
although many countries have not even enacted provision for TRIPS
flexibilities. Therefore this paper focuses on options that are available to
the health community for negotiation to their advantage under TRIPS, and
within the presence of TRIPS-plus.