Short report

TRIPS, the Doha Declaration and increasing access to medicines: policy options for Ghana

JC Cohen¹ , M Gyansa-Lutterodt² , K Torpey³ , LC Esmail⁴ and G Kurokawa⁵

¹  Assistant Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto; Director, Comparative Program on Health and Society, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto

²  Programme Manager, Ghana National Drug Programme, Ministry of Health, Republic of Ghana

³  Senior Clinical Officer, Family Health International

⁴  Ph.D. student, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toronto

⁵  Law student, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

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Globalization and Health 2005, 1:17doi:10.1186/1744-8603-1-17

Published:	9 December 2005

Abstract

There are acute disparities in pharmaceutical access between developing and industrialized countries. Developing countries make up approximately 80% of the world's population but only represent approximately 20% of global pharmaceutical consumption. Among the many barriers to drug access are the potential consequences of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. Many developing countries have recently modified their patent laws to conform to the TRIPS standards, given the 2005 deadline for developing countries. Safeguards to protect public health have been incorporated into the TRIPS Agreement; however, in practice governments may be reluctant to exercise such rights given concern about the international trade and political ramifications. The Doha Declaration and the recent Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health may provide more freedom for developing countries in using these safeguards. This paper focuses on Ghana, a developing country that recently changed its patent laws to conform to TRIPS standards. We examine Ghana's patent law changes in the context of the Doha Declaration and assess their meaning for access to drugs of its population. We discuss new and existing barriers, as well as possible solutions, to provide policy-makers with lessons learned from the Ghanaian experience.