Access to Medicine: Pharmaceutical Patents and Public Health Needs Under the WTO Framework

Abstract

Many people, particularly in developing countries, die from curable or manageable diseases without access to medicine. After the TRIPS Agreement was brought into force, access to medicine in developing countries became worse and even deteriorated development. To solve the controversy in interpreting the TRIPS Agreement and the resulting public health crises, the Doha Declaration was adopted, recognizing the flexibilities of the TRIPS Agreement as effective and vital manners to promote access to medicines. However, there are still many difficulties encountered by developing countries in full implementation of the Doha Declaration. Therefore, this paper aims to reexamine and reaffirm access to medicine as an international human right, claiming it should be accommodated under the WTO framework, and also proposes several possible solutions to advance the accessibility of medicine.