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The TRIPS Flexibilities Database

The TRIPS Flexibilities Database contains instances when authorities have invoked, planned to invoke, or have been asked to invoke a TRIPS flexibility for public health reasons, in particular to assure access to medicines. The database tracks instances from 2001, the year in which the World Trade Organization adopted the Doha Declaration. It includes cases from low, middle, and high-income countries, and incorporates instances that are both executed and instances that are, pending, not executed or suspended.

It is a useful resource demonstrating that these flexibilities have been widely used to access medicines.

Blogs referencing the TRIPS Flexibilities Database

Updated TRIPS Flexibilities Database

In January 2023, a number of cystic-fibrosis patient organisations asked the governments of Brazil, India, South Africa and Ukraine to invoke compulsory licensing and...

TRIPS, technology transfer and access to pandemic countermeasures: What the WHO  Pandemic Treaty must do

The scrambling for access to Covid-19 vaccines by developing countries has reignited the debate on the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)...

TRIPS Council to discuss IP and the public interest in the context of Covid-19

The search for new treatments and vaccines needed to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak has laid bare some key issues around intellectual property (IP)...

Uganda tells ARIPO: No more patents for pharmaceuticals

Uganda has notified the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) that pharmaceutical inventions are not eligible for patentability in the country, Managing IP reported. With...

Corbyn’s Compulsory Licenses. Will they work?

On 24 September, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK Labour party, announced a series of measures to bring medicines pricing in check and to...

Strong call for transparency on medicine prices, cost of R&D at WHO Fair Pricing Forum

“Medical innovation has little social value if most people cannot access its benefits…. this is a global human rights issue,” said Mariângela Simão, Assistant...

2018 Round-up of Noteworthy Medicines Law and Policy Events

We are reaching the end of 2018: Time for our end-of-the-year roundup of some significant developments in medicines law and policy. January The Chilean parliament started...

New Database Documents the Power of TRIPS Flexibilities

Medicines Law & Policy has published an on-line database of instances of the use of TRIPS flexibilities in public health contexts, titled the TRIPS...

New Tool Maps Use of TRIPS Flexibilities for Public Health

Flexibilities were essential in providing access to HIV medicines; today, the need for access to other essential treatments is driving their uptake 27 NOVEMBER 2018: Medicines Law & Policy today launches a new tool demonstrating how key...

Other useful databases