Drugs in a brave new world of trips+ schemes : the case for legal ceilings on extra patent protection

Trade in generics is a prerequisite for patients as well as public health authorities in the developing world in order to purchase affordable medicines in pharmaceutical markets. However, the relentless promotion of stringent global patent protection standards by technology exporting countries is undermining the ability of sustainable generic production and distribution on a global scale. To a great extent, developed countries are acting as proxies of the socially wasteful rent-seeking strategies of pharmaceutical companies. Public interest coalitions can only win the ongoing battle (on multiple parallel fronts) by promoting a new Declaration on TRIPs rules as a legal ceiling for pharmaceutical patent protection in the developing world, to complement the historic 2001 WTO Doha Declaration on TRIPs and public health. Alternatively, several global institutions with concurring competences in this area are already available to promote a similar legal solution. http://e-revistas.uc3m.es/index.php/CDT/article/view/1720

Drugs in a brave new world of trips+ schemes : the case for legal ceilings on extra patent protection Articles