Correspondence: María Fabiana Jorge, MFJ International, LLC 1341 Connecticut Ave. NW, 3rd Floor Washington, DC 20036, USA. Tel: +1 202 223 7017; Fax: +1 202 223 7013; E-mail: mfjorge@mfjint.com

¹is President of MFJ International, LLC, a global consulting firm based in Washington, DC. She has been working in the field of intellectual property and access to affordable medicines for over 15 years.

Received 17 July 2007; Revised 17 July 2007; Published online 14 August 2007.

Abstract

Trade agreements on intellectual property (IP) became a useful tool for patent holders to increase their exclusive marketing rights around the world. Bilateral agreements have gradually increased the standards of protection beyond those of the TRIPS agreement creating a growing imbalance between the rights of IP holders on one side and those of consumers and the generic industry, on the other. After the Democratic Party became the majority party in the US Congress in January 2007, the new leadership of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives forced the US Trade Representative to reopen the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Peru, Panama and Colombia, the ratification of which was pending, and introduced substantial changes to the final texts to reduce the negative effects on access to medicines posed by the original agreements. This seems to mark a significant turning point but all will depend on how these governments implement the FTAs into their national laws and on whether they actually take advantage of this opportunity. Will other governments follow the leadership shown by the Ways and Means Committee?