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42 Geo. J. Int'l L. 785 (2010-2011)
Pharmacy of the Developing World: Reconciling Intellectual Property Rights in India with the Right to Health: TRIPS, India's Patent System and Essential Medicines

handle is hein.journals/geojintl42 and id is 791 raw text is: NOTES PHARMACY OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD: RECONCILING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN INDIA WITH THE RIGHT TO HEALTH: TRIPS, INDIA'S PATENT SYSTEM AND ESSENTIAL MEDICINES TIMOTHY BAZzLE* ABSTRACT Since gaining its independence, India has emerged as a leading producer of generic drugs, playing a central role in ensuring that the global poor have access to affordable and efficacious essential medicines. With the ascent of interna- tional intellectual property rights, enshrined in the watershed Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS), India's continued ability to develop and manufacture these affordable life-saving medicines has been cast into doubt. Questions abound about whether India will remain the pharmacy of the developing world as it conforms its domestic patent regime to the standards established in TRIPS. Recent decisions by Indian courts have given cause for measured optimism. These courts have invoked right to health arguments to validate continued generic drug production, signaling that the growing hegemony of intellectual property rights will not subvert the right to health, at least within India's domestic patent law framework. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION......................................... 786 I. THE RIGHT TO HEALTH IN INDIA........................ 788 II. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: TRIPS, INDIA'S PATENT SYSTEM AND ESSENTIAL MEDICINES ...................... 792 A. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement.................................... 792 B. Indian Patent Law: A Brief History, Before and After TRIPS...................................... 800 * J.D., Georgetown University Law Center (expected May 2011); M.I.A, School of Interna- tional and Public Affairs at Columbia University, 2006; A.B. History and Literature, Harvard University, 2001. I would like to thank Benjamin Berkman and Oscar Cabrera for their thoughtful feedback on multiple drafts of this Note. I would also like to thank my family for their love, patience and surprising eagerness to learn about the intersection of intellectual property rights and the right to health. @ 2011, Timothy Bazzle. 785

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