Patents, pharmaceuticals and the implementation of paragraph 6 of the DOHA declaration on the trips agreement and public health

It is interesting to observe how the most politically contested subjects can evaporate overnight, leaving all those affected to pick up the pieces and to try to make sense of what has just happened. The WTO deal on drug patents (or in its official title: 'Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPs Agreement and Public Health', dated 2 September 2003) is such an example. This purpose of this article is twofold: 1) to describe the complex and paradoxical nature of pharmaceutical IPRs; and 2) to analyze the TRIPs deal on drug patents (or as commonly referred to as the 'Paragraph 6 Deal'), to explain its implications, and identify the potential winners and the likely losers from this deal. Copyright