Abstract
This paper evaluates the Canadian and the European Union's (EU) implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) General Council Decision of 2003, which resolved that developed nations could export patented pharmaceutical drugs to member states in order to address public health challenges such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics, such states including Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The author makes a primarily textual appraisal of how and to what extent the Canada Access to Medicine Regime (CAMR) and European Union (EU) Regulations benefit, for instance, SSA countries in the WTO in their quest to make essential medicine more accessible. The author argues that although there are identifiable complexities inherent in the Canadian and the EU's access to pharmaceutical product regimes, there are far more important incentives and benefits that can be reaped in taking advantage of the respective systems. The author recommends that countries facing public health crises/emergencies, such as SSA countries, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) take advantage of the regulatory flexibilities of Canada and the EU in their efforts to provide their communities with essential HIV/AIDS treatment, and treatment for other diseases such as malaria. The author dismisses the arguments against TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property) flexibilities-inspired legislation and similar measures as mostly mere rhetoric and hair-splitting, because they sometimes unwarrantedly dismiss a workable solution to public-health problems. 
Highlights
Our decision to write on access to patented pharmaceutical medicines was motivated by the need for persons to acknowledge and recognise the public-health rights of healthcare and access to medicine, though often neglected, as fundamental human rights.1 Every national jurisdiction has some form of legal imperative to enable or make it possible for its citizens to enjoy certain fundamental human rights and civil liberties and freedoms
The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, for example, has declared Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome5 (AIDS) in Africa a serious threat against humanity, which needs urgent and exceptional intervention measures.15. This challenge was acknowledged by African states in the Maputo Declaration on Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Related Infectious Diseases,16 which committed themselves to taking appropriate steps to curb the HIV/AIDS pandemic, including putting in place measures to scale up the treatment for HIV/AIDS.17
The Canada Access to Medicine Regime (CAMR) and the EU Regulations and similar TRIPS-compliant measures have come under attack as falling short of making pharmaceutical products more accessible
Summary
Challenges of access to patented pharmaceutical medicines. As access to essential medicine is one of the basic pillars of social welfare and human development, urgent attention is required for this dire situation. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, for example, has declared HIV/AIDS in Africa a serious threat against humanity, which needs urgent and exceptional intervention measures.. This challenge was acknowledged by African states in the Maputo Declaration on Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Related Infectious Diseases, which committed themselves to taking appropriate steps to curb the HIV/AIDS pandemic, including putting in place measures to scale up the treatment for HIV/AIDS.17 This is a welcome commitment by African countries in the light of Article 16(2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) of 1981, which requires State Parties to "take the necessary measures to protect the health of their people and to ensure that they receive medical attention when they are sick". A few important decisions in relation to TRIPS have been adopted to address the challenges of access to medicines necessary to deal with the public-health problems facing many developing countries. A pharmaceutical product produced or imported under a compulsory licence by one member may be exported legitimately to the markets of those other developing or least developed country parties to the regional trade agreement "that share the health problem in question"
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