ORCID Profile
0000-0001-8296-9998
Current Organisations
University of Queensland
,
City University of Hong Kong
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 19-07-2022
Abstract: Against the backdrop of the regional mechanism carved out under Art. 31bis(3) of the TRIPS Agreement for issuing compulsory licences, the paper critically appraises the mechanism’s viability or otherwise in addressing the challenge of access to essential medicines in a regional context. The paper finds that the mechanism remains severely restricted. First, it does not exempt an importing country within the regional alliance from issuing a separate compulsory licence where a patent is in force on the pharmaceutical product in question. Second, the logic of the mechanism is counterintuitive in that it is prohibited from being used as an instrument to pursue industrial policy objectives, and in a broad sense, a public-health-related industrial agenda. Using the East African Community (EAC) as a case study, the paper practically reveals how the identified distortions inhibit the use of compulsory licences within a regional coalition. The paper also examines how the potency of the TRIPS transition period, which excludes 80% of EAC member states from granting pharmaceuticals patents until 2034, is being whittled down by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization’s (ARIPO) obligations and unclear domestic legislation. The paper recommends an overhaul of the TRIPS amendment’s regional mechanism for better effectiveness in driving pharmaceutical access.
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
Date: 19-05-2019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-01-2023
DOI: 10.1017/LST.2022.43
Abstract: The paper surveys the intellectual property (IP) laws of seven Southern African Development Community countries to better understand the nature, scope, and depth of their patent laws with particular focus on their utilisation of TRIPS flexibilities to facilitate pharmaceutical access. The selected countries – Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – represent a mix of both major and modest economies. While the current literature contains widespread assertions on the impact and effect of TRIPS on access to medicines in these countries and less-developed countries in general, this paper finds that the countries lack explicit and workable provisions implementing key TRIPS flexibilities. Hence, available TRIPS flexibilities have not been well utilised and it is often the complicated and unworkable domestic framework – rather than TRIPS – which becomes the stumbling block to pharmaceutical access. Another major finding is that patents may not be a major impediment in the region given that few patents and even fewer pharmaceutical patents are filed. The paper argues that since the surveyed countries are mainly net IP importers with similar developmental contexts and aspirations, the best approach would be to fully take advantage of existing flexibilities and more aggressively leverage policy space to engender access to cheaper medicines.
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Date: 09-06-2020
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 24-04-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-06-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S12992-020-00579-Y
Abstract: This commentary re-examines a recent article by Labonté et al on the recent changes to two relevant provisions relating to patent rights in the final version of the United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Although the USMCA’s final revised version does not add more pharmaceutical patent protection than those that already exist in the three trading partners, the agreement has done little to enhance access to generic medicines and biosimilars.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.PUHE.2019.04.019
Abstract: The short communication is prompted by the debate relating to the effect of pharmaceutical patents on access to affordable medicines, particularly in Africa. A recent amendment made to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement creates a policy space for the regional alliance of low-income countries for the collective procurement and local production of drugs under compulsory licensing. This article examines the extent to which the regional mechanism can deliver access to pharmaceuticals. The article examines the regional mechanism in the light of the recent regional trade agreements and pharmaceutical plans of some regional economic blocs in Africa as well as the newly signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). This short communication adopts a descriptive approach in linking the regional mechanism in the TRIPS amendment to the regional trade agreements of African countries at the subregional and continental levels. To ascertain the extent to which TRIPS Agreements regional model can deliver access to medicines in Africa, the article adopts a desk review approach by examining the relevant provisions of TRIPS Agreement, particularly the newly added Article 31bis, and the provisions of the relevant regional and continental free trade agreements in Africa. The article finds that although the regional model has great prospects in supporting the wider effort to deliver access to medicine, the limitations to its operative utilization may weaken its potency in addressing the urgent public health needs of the continent. The article concludes by stressing the inevitability of Africa's integration in tackling the deficiency of access to generic medicines in Africa. It was noted that even though there could be some potential challenges, the regional mechanism is indeed the way to go for low-income countries.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 15-11-2019
DOI: 10.1108/JITLP-02-2019-0011
Abstract: The paper is prompted by the US–China trade war and its implications for the sustenance of the multilateral trading system. The two rivals resorted to “self-help” without recourse to the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system, flouting the WTO as an adjudicator in trade disputes. This paper aims to analyze the drawbacks in the settlement system and examines the urgent need for a retroactive remedy. This paper adopts desk-review and jurisprudential analysis of the relevant rulings of the WTO dispute settlement body. Using desk-review, primary sources such as the relevant domestic legislations invoked by the USA and China to trigger the trade war were discussed and critically analyzed. This paper finds that the unilateral and protectionist actions that characterize the trade war can be linked to the loss of confidence in WTO remedies to redress members’ retroactive economic losses. This finding is useful in arguing for the incorporation of a retrospective monetary remedy to forestall the reoccurrence of a similar trade war and save the WTO from being dysfunctional. Although, whether there should be retroactive remedies in the settlement system has been long debated, this paper makes a significant contribution by highlighting why the drawbacks in the settlement system have become so prominent in the context of this trade war. This paper strengthens the urgent need for WTO dispute settlement reform to prevent a reoccurrence of another global distortion of trade.
No related grants have been discovered for Tolulope Anthony ADEKOLA.