Improving Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines in Africa
Improving Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines in Africa

Author: Patrick Lumumba Osewe

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 0821375458

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The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPS) requires all WTO members to adopt certain minimum standards for the protection of intellectual property rights including the rights of holders of patents for pharmaceutical products. The adoption of the standards delineated by the TRIPS Agreement appears to have resulted in significant loss of public health policy flexibilities for developing country members with respect to regulating the grant and use of pharmaceutical patents and controlling the cost of medicines. The Agreement, however, provides inherent flexibilities that are to enable member countries to take adequate measures to safeguard pubic health. This Study analyzes the extent to which countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have been able to utilize the flexibilities to improve access to HIV/Aids medicines. This is done primarily in relation to the two regional intellectual property organizations, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and Organisation Africaine de la Proprit Intellectuelle (OAPI), bearing in mind the close linkages between the legal instruments of these regional institutions and the domestic laws of their member countries. It has been observed that in spite of the availability of the flexibilities provided by the Agreement, obstacles to implementation in SSA center mainly on lack of awareness and political will and lack of efficient administrative structures and procedures for coordination and decision making. The Study also examines the option of local manufacture of HIV/Aids medicines, based on the experiences of four countries, evaluates challenges to the sustainability of this option in the SSA context andmakes recommendations based on key findings.

HIV/AIDS Drugs, Patents, and the TRIPS Agreement
HIV/AIDS Drugs, Patents, and the TRIPS Agreement

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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AIDS ("Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome") is a serious medical condition that predisposes patients towards opportunistic infections, tumors, dementia and death. Human Immunodeficiency Virus ("HIV") is the viral agent associated with AIDS. HIV/AIDS remains a leading cause of death in the United States. Exposure rates in some other parts of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, substantially exceed those in the United States. The global HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a severe impact upon many states within the developing world, and future social and economic consequences could be devastating. Recently introduced antiretroviral drugs have reduced the number of deaths caused by HIV/AIDS. These medicines can keep HIV from replicating and causing further damage to the immune system. Although the cost of an annual supply of different HIV/AIDS drugs varies. The prices of these drugs are beyond the ability of most residents of the developing world to pay. Because some HIV/AIDS drugs are subject to patent protection, others may not manufacture these drugs without the permission of the patent owner. International disagreement has arisen regarding patents on HIV/AIDS drugs. Until recently, many nations did not allow patents to issue on pharmaceuticals. However, one component of the World Trade Organization agreements, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the "TRIPS Agreement"), requires member states to grant pharmaceutical patents. Demand for increased availability of HIV/AIDS drugs has led to perceived conflicts with this TRIPS Agreement obligation. Although patent disputes concerning Brazil and South Africa have recently been resolved, a fundamental conflict persists between the goals of providing broad access to HIV/AIDS drugs, on one hand, and maintaining an environment conducive to pharmaceutical research and development, on the other. Legislation has been introduced in the 107th Congress relating to the availability of drugs for treating HIV/AIDS. These and other options for dealing with this issue are discussed. Other options include: providing the U.S. Trade Representative with policy guidance that balances TRIPS Agreement compliance with the availability of HIV/AIDS drugs; encouraging the differential pricing of HIV/AIDS drugs in the developed and developing world; promoting market-based solutions, such as a global settlement between entrepreneurial pharmaceutical companies and nations seeking greater access to HIV/AIDS drugs; and offering humanitarian aid to the recently announced United Nations global fund for fighting HIV/AIDS.

The Global Governance of HIV/AIDS
The Global Governance of HIV/AIDS

Author: O. Aginam

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1849804923

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ÔHIV/AIDS remains a major global health problem, despite the progress made in its prevention and treatment. Addressing this problem is not only a matter of more and better drugs, they need to be widely accessible and be affordable to the poor. This book makes, with a much welcomed interdisciplinary approach, an excellent contribution to understanding how the intellectual property regime can influence health policies and the lives of millions of people affected by the disease. The analysis provided by the various authors that contributed to this book will be of relevance not only to those working in the area of HIV/AIDS, but to those more broadly interested in public health governance and the role of intellectual property rights.Õ Ð Carlos Correa, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina ÔThis is an important, innovative and, at times, controversial collection. Inter-disciplinary in approach, this collection will have appeal to those concerned with the global injustice in the context of HIV/AIDS. Investigating the legal, political and economic determinants of access to essential medicines, this is thought provoking collection which will resonate with many in both the academic and public policy community.Õ Ð Bryan Mercurio, The Chinese University of Hong Kong This important book brings together leading scholars from multiple disciplines, including intellectual property, human rights, public health, and development studies, as well as activists to critically reflect on the global health governance regime. The Global Governance of HIV/AIDS explores the implications of high international intellectual property standards for access to essential medicines in developing countries. With a focus on HIV/AIDS governance, the volume provides a timely analysis of the international legal and political landscape, the relationship between human rights and intellectual property, and emerging issues in global health policy. It concludes with concrete strategies on how to improve access to HIV/AIDS medicines. This interdisciplinary, global, and up-to-date book will strongly appeal to academics in law, international relations, health policy and public policy, as well as students, policymakers and activists.

Improving Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines in Africa
Improving Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines in Africa

Author: Patrick Lumumba Osewe

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 65

ISBN-13: 9780821375440

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Providing access to affordable, good quality HIV/AIDS medicines remains a challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although patent protection is by no means the only barrier to access, it has significant implications for accessibility. Experiences from a number of countries show that local production of HIV/AIDS medicines depends not on research and technology, but also on highly regulated patents and intensive capital investment. These factors pose major challenges to African countries that have ventured into this undertaking. The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) requires all World Trade Organization members to adopt certain minimum standards for the protection of intellectual property rights, including the rights of pharmaceutical product patent holders. Improving Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines in Africa analyses the extent to which countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have been able to use flexibilities in the agreement to improve access to affordable antiretroviral (ARV) medicines. It also examines the option of local manufacture of ARV medicines - based on the experiences of Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe - and it evaluates factors that favor or hinder sustainable local production. Finally the book makes recommendations on how countries in the region can use the TRIPS flexibilities to improve access to life-saving medicines.

The TRIPs Agreement - Legal Implementation on Patent Protection and Resulting Impacts on LDCs
The TRIPs Agreement - Legal Implementation on Patent Protection and Resulting Impacts on LDCs

Author: Sven Löhr

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2008-12-02

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 3640224248

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Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Law, grade: 2,0, University of Hamburg, language: English, abstract: The following article shall give an overview of the TRIPs Agreement and the concept to protect intellectual property. The pharmaceutical production and the abuse of rights are the main focus of this work. During the analysis of the articles and the exemplification of the conflictive interests of the developing and the industrial countries the problem of compulsory licences in the pharmaceutical sector will illustrate the problematic situation in the area of patent protection in pharmaceutics. Finally, case studies will be integrated to back up the findings.

Negotiating Health
Negotiating Health

Author: Pedro Roffe

Publisher: Earthscan

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1849772088

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In developing countries, access to affordable medicines for the treatment of diseases such as AIDS and malaria remains a matter of life or death. In Africa, for instance, more than one million children die each year from malaria alone, a figure which could soon be far higher with the extension of patent rules for pharmaceuticals. Previously, access to essential medicines was made possible by the supply of much cheaper generics, manufactured largely by India; from 2005, however, the availability of these drugs is threatened as new WTO rules take effect. Halting the spread of malaria and HIV/AIDS is one of the eight Millennium Goals adopted at the UN Millennium Summit, which makes this a timely and topical book.Informed analysis is provided by internationally renowned contributors who look at the post-2005 world and discuss how action may be taken to ensure that intellectual property regimes are interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive to the right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all.

Human Rights and the WTO
Human Rights and the WTO

Author: Holger Hestermeyer

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13:

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This book examines one of the most controversial aspects of the world trading system: patents and access to medication, and offers approaches to tackle the issue of how to better accommodate human rights in the trading system.

The Political Economy of Pharmaceutical Patents
The Political Economy of Pharmaceutical Patents

Author: Sherry S. Marcellin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-02-24

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1317020804

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This book provides a fresh, multidisciplinary, and exciting look at the making and remaking of pharmaceutical patents at the GATT/WTO, by utilising a Coxian political economy of continuity and change in the global political economy (GPE). Marcellin focuses on the role of the transnational drug industry in the making of the patent provisions in the original TRIPS Agreement and consequently, the role of the African Group at the WTO in the remaking of those patent provisions.