ABSTRACT
The access norm has been strongest and most resilient for HIV/AIDS. Yet despite the significant progress in access to HIV medicines, enormous challenges remain. There were several other channels through which the access norm could be challenged in IP rulemaking. Industrialized countries pushed for tighter IP rules through bilateral pressure, interpretation of existing treaty law, and negotiating new treaties. Between the late 1990s and 2012 a relatively effective informal norm regarding universal access to essential medicines developed. While the pharmaceutical industry supported to some degree the global endeavor to improve access to medicines among the world's poor, they nevertheless continued to pursue their agenda of trying to secure stronger international IPRs. They shifted the forum of their activities towards bi- and plurilateral free trade agreements (FTA) and other treaties, and worked to secure TRIPS-plus clauses in FTAs that restrict the use of TRIPS flexibilities.
