Intellectual property rights (IPR) provisions have become a staple of modern free trade agreements since the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which set minimum standards for IPR protection for World Trade Organization (WTO) members. TRIPS requires members to provide an intellectual property legal structure encompassing patents, trademarks, copyrights, other provisions […]
Price is one of the major barriers to access to medicines, leading to an increasing number of countries implementing generic medicines to promote medicines access as they move towards Universal Health Coverage. Successful uptake of generic medicines depends, in part, on ensuring that these products are interchangeable with reference products. Typically, bioequivalence certification is established […]
Intellectual property rights (IPR) provisions have become a staple of modern free trade agreements since the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which set minimum standards for IPR protection for World Trade Organization (WTO) members. Many recent bilateral and multilateral trade agreements increase the scope and coverage of IPR provisions and […]
Chile has developed several pharmaceutical policies during the last 10 years, aiming at improving the access of medicines. One of the most important policies implemented in 2014 was the generic substitution policy, which was designed to increase market competition by regulating the substitution of generic products for originator medicines. After three years of this policy, […]
In China, three major health insurance programs cover specific groups: rural residents under the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), urban employees under the Urban Employees Basic Medical Insurance (UE-BMI) and unemployed urban residents under the Urban Residents Basic Medical Insurance (UR-BMI). The three schemes function differently in how they are financed and operate, and […]