Tripping over patents, AIDS, access to treatment and the manufacturing of scarcity

grantor: University of TorontoWith an estimated 4.7 million--or approximately one-in-nine--people living with HIV/AIDS, South Africa is in crisis. Understanding that its ability to turn the tide against the epidemic in large part hinges on whether the majority of people with HIV/AIDS will have access to treatment, this thesis explores the extent of regulatory flexibility permissible under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). I argue that despite the international harmonization of intellectual property law, countries like South Africa are permitted by TRIPS to take certain regulatory steps to ensure the accessibility of essential treatments. When properly interpreted in accordance with recognized principles of international law and in the light of the 'Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996', TRIPS does not prevent--but rather contemplates and permits--the taking of certain legal steps to ensure meaningful reductions in drug prices.LL.M