ABSTRACT
It is well documented that the flexibilities found in the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration were primarily introduced to address the problem of access to medicines in developing countries and the LDCs. But the developed countries, using the TRIPS Agreement’s IP rights protection criteria as a benchmark, later developed a much higher IP rights protection agenda through the introduction of TRIPS-plus provisions in bilateral and other multilateral agreements entered into with developing countries. The winners in the game are the patent-holding pharmaceutical corporations, software corporations, media corporations and developed countries in which the companies are incorporated. The ones at the receiving end are the developing countries and the LDCs, which were promised technology transfer to build a modern economy by the developed countries but are faced with multiple problems that include the non-availability of affordable medicines for healthcare. This chapter studies the impact of FTAs and other bilateral trade agreements where TRIPS-plus provisions are used to undermine TRIPS flexibilities, and their result on access to medicines.
