Compulsory patent licensing and local drug manufacturing capacity in Africa

Africa has the highest disease burden in the world and continues to depend on pharmaceutical imports to meet public health needs. As Asian manufacturers of generic medicines begin to operate under a more protectionist intellectual property regime, their ability to manufacture medicines at prices that are affordable to poorer countries is becoming more circumscribed. The Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health gives member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) the right to adopt legislation permitting the use of patented material without authorization by the patent holder, a provision known as "compulsory licensing". For African countries to take full advantage of compulsory licensing they must develop substantial local manufacturing capacity. Because building manufacturing capacity in each African country is daunting and almost illusory, an African free trade area should be developed to serve as a platform not only for the free movement of goods made pursuant to compulsory licences, but also for an economic or financial collaboration towards the development of strong pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in the continent. Most countries in Africa are in the United Nations list of least developed countries, and this allows them, under WTO law, to refuse to grant patents for pharmaceuticals until 2021. Thus, there is a compelling need for African countries to collaborate to build strong pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in the continent now, while the current flexibilities in international intellectual property law offer considerable benefits

Intellectual property and access to medicines in Africa: A regional framework for access

A major target of Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 is the elimination of ‘the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases’ and combating ‘hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases’. Intellectual property (IP) has been identified as one of the factors impeding access to affordable medicines in developing countries, especially in relation to the HIV pandemic. This book examines the scope of the existing flexibilities in international IP law for promoting access to medicines. It analyses the factors accounting for the underutilisation of the flexibilities in Africa and the measures that African countries may adopt to address the IP barriers to access to medicines. It explores the regional strategies that Africa can adopt to resolve the tension between IP regimes and access to medicines. It also highlights how trade liberalisation and regional integration can play crucial roles in enhancing the use of TRIPS flexibilities, local pharmaceutical manufacturing and access to medicines in Africa. By adopting qualitative research methods to investigate how African countries may effectively use IP to serve public health purposes through the stratagem of regional integration, this book will be a valuable contribution to the existing literature on IP

International patents law and public health: Revisiting the TRIPS compulsory licensing regime and the Doha Paragraph-6 System

The article presents a critique of the Doha Paragraph 6 System and challenges its effectualness as a real panacea to the global access to medicines conundrum. The article posits that without the ability to manufacture pharmaceuticals locally, the TRIPS compulsory licensing regime in the long term offers no significant advantage to the world’s most vulnerable populations

Access to medicines and parallel trade in patented pharmaceuticals

The article examines the legal framework for exhaustion of rights in international law and how it relates to parallel importation (otherwise known as parallel trade). The significance of parallel trade in pharmaceutical products is considered with particular focus on the importance of parallel trade to free trade and access to medicines in Africa

The WTO TRIPS Agreement and the public health conundrum: Important lessons for Africa

This article considers the extent to which the TRIPS patent regime has exacerbated the access to medicines problem in Africa and the flexibilities that are available within TRIPS to address the problem. It examines the significance of the right to health to the debate and highlights the need for African nations to form a common front under the African Union to address this problem

Patents for drugs and the right to development in international law

This article explores the connection of health to human and socio-economic development and the protection of pharmaceutical patents. It examines the concept of development and the right to development in international law in the context of access to medicines and patents protection. The provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the Agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) that are significant to the pursuit of development are discussed. The article argues that there is a cognisable right to development in international law that is well recognised in international trade law and the pursuit of development should be duly taken into account in the negotiation and implementation of trade and IP agreements. The article highlights the potential danger in eroding the flexibilities in the TRIPS Agreement through the negotiation of free trade agreements and emphasises the need for IP and trade agreements to sufficiently accommodate and recognise legitimate measures genuinely taken to enhance national development. It is argued that developing countries should have a national IP implementation plan that can effectively enhance their human development objectives. © 2015 by De Gruyter

The TRIPS Agreement and regionalism: Free trade and public health in Africa

This article discusses how free trade can enhance the parallel importation of patented pharmaceuticals and the development of the pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in Africa. It also explores the option of using the stratagem of an African free trade area to promote the use of compulsory licences to import patented pharmaceuticals into the continent

Access to energy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Energy access is fundamental to the full enjoyment of not only economic and social rights but also civil and political rights. Whilst the campaign for extending energy access to the world’s most vulnerable populations may be validly anchored on the need to mitigate climate change and promote sustainability, it is exigent to also underscore its human rights significance. In Africa, where most countries have weak environmental regulation and enforcement structures, the climate change and sustainable development rhetoric most commonly used in emphasising the importance of energy access may not yield the desired results. Access to energy is a major issue in Africa and South Asia where a very significant proportion of their populations make use of biomass-sourced fuels to meet most of their energy needs. This has come with some major attendant health, environmental and socio-economic consequences. This article argues that energy access has transcended the contours of climate change and has become a human rights issue. It posits that African Union states may be made to take progressive measures to provide modern energy services through the adjudicatory jurisdiction of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Appraising the interpretation of the word ‘scientist’ under the special residence requirements for Australian citizenship

The article examines the interpretation of the word ‘scientist’ under Instrument IMMI 13/056 made pursuant to section 22B(1) of the Citizenship Act. The article considers the literal interpretation of the word scientist and the objective of the Instrument. The article provides a critique of the cases that have gone to the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal and argues that the interpretation favoured by the Tribunal is misconceived. The article contends that the Tribunal seems to be giving undue support to an arbitrary or haphazardly serendipitous exercise of ministerial power under the special residence framework in a manner that runs afoul of the tenour of section 22B(1) of the Citizenship Act

Health and development in Africa: How far can the human rights jurisprudence go?

Poor health can have adverse impact on economic growth and developmentand the link between health and development has been well accentuated. Thispaper discusses the international framework for the protection of health rights.The paper argues that beyond the health and development rhetoric, there is acompelling need for African states to devise strategies for the progressiveactualisation of health and development rights through the adoption ofadministrative and judicial measures for the realisation of such rights