TWN Info Service on Free Trade Agreements

26 June 2006


Implications of Bilateral Free Trade Agreements on Access to Medicines

The TRIPs Agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) mandated the introduction of protection of intellectual property rights, notably patents, for pharmaceuticals products. While the implications for the access to medicines contained in the terms of this Agreement raised significant concerns, the new wave of bilateral free trade agreements requires even higher levels of intellectual property protection for medicines than those allowed in TRIPs.

The measures involved include the extension of the patent term beyond 20 years; prohibition of use of test data on drug efficacy and safety for certain periods for the approval of generic products; the linkages between drug registration and patent protection; in some cases, limitations to the grounds for granting compulsory licenses.

The article attached published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, reviews some of these measures that further limit the competition of generic products and discusses their possible implications for access to medicines.


Regards,

Third World Network
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