Friday, May 30, 2003

Patents and Pharmaceutical Access: Rent-seeking Racket
'Patent laws in many developing countries are now set through a combination of World Trade Organization (WTO) directives, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) advice, and U.S. bilateral trade pressure (3). But because the WTO's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement requires developing countries to pass national legislation guaranteeing patent terms of two decades for pharmaceuticals, the prices of new drugs for both common and rare conditions is expected to double soon after January 2005'

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