Over the past few years, a number of developing countries have expressed concern about the impact of the TRIPs Agreement (see our Special Information Letter of December 21, 1994) on their ability to deal with public health issues such as the increasing incidence of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in their countries. This has led to suggestions that the TRIPs Agreement, and in particular its provisions requiring that all member countries provide full patent protection for pharmaceutical products after 2005, should be renegotiated. The issue was discussed at World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Doha, Q'atar, November 10 -14, 2001. The meeting adopted a declaration on the application of intellectual property rights to situations involving public health issues. While recognizing the importance of intellectual property rights in the development of new medicines, the meeting affirmed that the TRIPs Agreement "can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO Members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all", and went on state that the options open to member states that are compatible with TRIPs include the following:

In view of the fact that countries with limited manufacturing facilities may have a problem in taking full advantage of the compulsory license provisions, the TRIPs Council was directed to find "an expeditious solution to the problem" and to report back by the end of 2002.

Finally, it was agreed that, so far as pharmaceutical products are concerned, least developed countries could further delay their implementation of those parts of the TRIPs Agreement that apply to patents and trade secrets until January 1, 2016.