Public health protection in patent laws: selected provisions

Countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have to implement the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement). The TRIPS Agreement has to a large extent harmonized the standards for the protection of intellectual property rights, including patents. For developing countries, generally, the TRIPS Agreement has increased the level of intellectual property protection; for example, WTO Member countries cannot exempt pharmaceuticals from patent protection (as a number of countries did, before TRIPS came into force). The introduction of these higher TRIPS standards has delayed the marketing of generic versions of new medicines and, thus, the competition they entail; in several developing countries prices of new medicines have remained high for a longer time. This could result in reduced access to those medicines.