Page 139 - Q26 - 0

¥ÿ≈æ“À

set forth by the TRIPS Agreement has led to the situation where developing

countries giving up the market control and the regulation over the costs of
drugs. Nonetheless, the TRIPS Agreement allows certain flexibilities for its

members to protect public health. This paper discusses policy mechanisms to

ensure pharmaceutical accessibility permitted under the TRIPS Agreement

and also analyses the complications in implementing TRIPS flexibilities.

The ultimate goal of this paper is to emphasize the significance of legal and
policy designed to ensure the accessibility to pharmaceuticals. This paper

suggests that it is essential for the countries in the South to maintain the rigid

exploitation of the flexibilities granted by the TRIPS Agreement and to avoid

implementing non-patent barrier to extend the period of patent protection.

Keywords:

Patent law, TRIPS Agreement, TRIPS Flexibilities, Patent Policy

Implementation, Pharmaceutical Patent

1. Introduction

Patent laws and policies are crucial incentives for the creators of

health innovation. They can greatly impact the number and direction of both
brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, creating both positive or negative

impact resting upon how the domestic government devise and implement

them. Importantly, patent laws and policies have implications for accessibility

to pharmaceutical. This fact is displayed most drastically in the situation of

the HIV pandemic across the globe. The prices set for a pharmaceutical
compound of anti-retroviral (ARV) HIV treatment from companies owning the

patents are over USD $10,000 per person a year, illustrating that such

128 ‡≈à¡∑’Ë Ò ªï∑’Ë ˆ˜