Amendments to TRIPs in order to ease access to medicines are now in force

In line with such amendment to TRIPs, a least developed country or a country that has notified the WTO (World Trade Organization) of its lack of capacity of manufacturing a specific drug in order to meet its own needs are eligible to obtain compulsory licenses to import such drug from a third country under special conditions. Such compulsory license shall be paid and limited to the purpose of meeting the needs of the importing country. Moreover, measures shall be taken to assure that the patentee rights shall not be hampered in the exporting country. In the past, there were negotiations concerning compulsory licenses for export during the Avian flu pandemic in 2005. Some Asian countries pressured WTO to allow compulsory licenses to import generic copies of Tamiflu®. Before any license was ever implemented, countries and the manufacturer struck a deal.