ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the evidence regarding the solidification and inclusiveness of the access norm. Many developing countries and CSOs had long insisted that access to medicines was not only about HIV/AIDS or a limited group of diseases but rather, about access to all important medicines. In 1999, the head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) had remarked that compulsory licensing benefits nobody except the fortunate commercial entity that is the beneficiary of the largesse offered by such licenses. The international mobilization of civil society in response to the draft free trade agreement between the European Union and India, which was leaked in late 2009. The growing economic importance of the middle-income markets would mean that expanding the access norm to include such countries would entail hotly contested political battles. Trade Minister Kamal Nath insisted that the new law would prevent drug price increases and protect the domestic industry.
