TRIPS Agreement and Developing Countries: India's Experience with Patent Law and Public Health

In 1994, the Indian government issued an ordinance that strengthened the country's standards for patent protection in compliance with a new global agreement: Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). TRIPS was negotiated by the World Trade Organization and sets minimum standards for intellectual property rights (IPR). Since the mid-twentieth century, India and other developing countries have had loose IPR law which made possible generic pharmaceutical industries that provided medicines to the world's poor. Many developing countries lobbied against TRIPS, arguing that the agreement would limit access to essential medicines and monopolize prices. India's large pharmaceutical industry and burden of infectious disease makes the country a unique case where patent law has far-reaching consequences. Patent protection or lack thereof is a matter of life or death for developing countries where large populations depend on affordable access to essential medications. Intellectual property law attempts to balance the competing social needs of innovation, global justice and international public health. Philosopher Thomas Pogge argues that the current global IPR regime disproportionately favors developed countries whose quest for profit exploits developing nations. This paper develops the argument that India did all it could to afford its people access to affordable medicines through its TRIPS amendments. The discussion develops a full understanding of intellectual property- its historical roots, embedded social values and modern role in public health. Using India as a case study, this narrative evaluates the role that TRIPS legislation has played in giving the world's poorest populations access to essential medicines.