An excellent guide to TRIPS-complaint patent regimes and public health concerns in the developing world

Abstract

Although the intrinsic dichotomies and dilemmas between medicine patenting and access to public health are not new phenomena, these delicate issues may be navigated from different perspectives. In his scholarly contribution, entitled Intellectual Property and Public Health in the Developing World , Monirul Azam has thoughtfully explored the ways to design national patent laws, institutional frameworks and policy options for developing nations and least developed countries (LDCs) in order to strengthen their domestic pharmaceutical industries and to provide public health amenities at an affordable cost. By adopting a doctrinal analysis, comparative review and case study—survey instrument and interview—the book aims to answer three central questions. Firstly, what are the policy options taken by developing nations like Brazil, China, India and South Africa to implement the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement on one hand and promote the domestic pharmaceutical sector on the other? Secondly, what (potential) policies can the LDCs (such as Bangladesh) use to encourage a local pharmaceutical industry and access to medicines? Finally, what are the infrastructural and institutional issues that need to be overcome by the LDCs to deal with a post-TRIPS patent regime? (p. 30).