PRESCRIPTION UNFILLED: THE 'JEAN-CHRETIEN PLEDGE FOR AFRICA ACT' AND ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL DRUGS
In: Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law, Jg. 14 (2014), S. 1
academicJournal
Zugriff:
The Jean Chretien Pledge to Africa ( JCPA ) 1 arose from a decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council in August 2003 to allow states to grant compulsory licenses for drugs otherwise protected by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Before TRIPS, generic drug companies capitalized on lenient or non-existent patent laws in developing countries to reproduce drugs that were patent-protected in the West. India serves as a prominent example; after the abolishment of patents in the 1970s, India's generic manufacturing industry grew exponentially, producing drugs for domestic consumption and international export, mainly to other developing countries with similarly unregulated markets. 2 TRIPS, in effect, aimed to reinforce patent protection in the developing world. During the Doha Round of WTO negotiations, developing countries had expressed concerns that TRIPS limited their ability to provide life-saving medicines to their most impoverished residents. 3 These worries had existed during the previous Uruguay Round when TRIPS was negotiated but the developing world was largely presented with a "take-it-or-leave-it offer" to either accept TRIPS or be excluded from the GATT. 4 This meant that India and other countries in which generic manufacturers operated were given until 2005 to become TRIPS compliant. 5 After the WTO General Council's decision, several countries expressed interest in enacting national laws supporting compulsory licenses. Canada was the first country to pass such a statute. However, the JCPA went above and beyond what is required by the WTO General Council decision ...
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PRESCRIPTION UNFILLED: THE 'JEAN-CHRETIEN PLEDGE FOR AFRICA ACT' AND ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL DRUGS
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | BAJWA, ALVIN |
Zeitschrift: | Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law, Jg. 14 (2014), S. 1 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2014 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
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