The Health Law, Ethics & Policy Seminar Series
presents
Saad Abughanm
The Implications of IP Protection on Access to Medicines: lessons from the Jordanian experience
Thursday, January 12, 2012
12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
84 Queen's Park, Falconer Hall, Solarium (FA2)
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C5
Everyone is welcome to attend, no registration is required.
ABSTRACT
In 2000, Jordan signed the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement) and a free trade agreement with the US (USJFTA). Both commitments have required Jordan to comply with various obligations, including full compliance with the minimum standards for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) under the TRIPS Agreement and TRIPS-Plus IP standards set out under the terms of the USJFTA. Enticed by views that strong IP protection would create prosperity in the Kingdom by promoting technological innovation and inducing transfer and dissemination of technology to Jordanians, Jordan implemented the provisions of TRIPS and the USJFTA to the letter. However, Jordan focused little attention on important “TRIPS flexibilities”. In particular, Jordan has qualified parallel importation and limited the grounds of compulsory licenses. In addition, Jordan provides pharmaceutical testing data with data exclusivity.
This presentation focuses on the Jordanian experience in the pharmaceutical sector. I argue that strong patent protection has not been conducive to the promotion of technological innovation and the transfer and dissemination of technology. Moreover, this protection has resulted in adverse outcomes such as increased drug prices, unavailability of essential medicines in some public hospitals for serious diseases, and a dwindling local pharmaceutical industry, in part, as a consequence of its inability to access advanced, patented technology on reasonable commercial terms.
The presentation also discusses the legitimacy of establishing certain grounds of compulsory licensing by Jordan, even in light of the TRIPS-Plus obligations under the USJFTA. I advocate that such grounds contribute to the promotion of technical innovation, lead to the transfer of advanced technology, and above all improve access to affordable medicines. Finally, I explore Jordan’s obligations to protect pharmaceutical testing data under TRIPS and USFTA arguing that neither of these two instruments requires data exclusivity as claimed by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and some developed countries.
BIOGRAPHY
Saad Abughanm, LLB (University Jordan) 1997, LLM (University Jordan) 2004, SJD (University of Toronto) 2011. Saad received his Bachelor degree in Law from the University of Jordan. Following his graduation, Saad worked for two Jordanian law firms as in-house legal counsel. In 2004, he graduated first in class with a LLM Degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Jordan. In 2005, he was contracted by the Government of Jordan to work for the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Jordan as Head of Postal Regulatory Department. In 2007, Saad became a member of the Private Law Department of the Faculty of Law, University of Jordan, as a Research & Teaching assistant. In 2011, Saad obtained his doctoral (SJD) degree at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. His doctoral thesis is entitled: “The Protection of Pharmaceutical Patents and Data under TRIPS and US-Jordan FTA: Exploring the Limits of Obligations and Flexibilities: A Study of the Impacts on the Pharmaceutical Sector in Jordan." In 2009-2011, Saad was a recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) fellowship in Health Law, Ethics and Policy. In February 2012, Saad will return to Jordan to assume a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Jordan.
A light lunch will be served.
For other upcoming seminars, see the schedule online or contact m.casco@utoronto.ca
The Health Law Ethics and Policy Workshop series brings local, national, international scholars and policy makers as guest speakers to the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto to stimulate discussion of issues related to the intersection of law with health care and related ethical and social issues. The series is organized by the Faculty’s Health Law group and is sponsored by the CIHR Training Program in Health Law, Ethics and Policy. The training program addresses the global shortage of experts in the multidisciplinary field of health law, ethics and policy by providing key learning opportunities and competitive scholarships to outstanding Canadian and international graduate students. For more information about the seminar series and/or the training program, please visit our website at: www.healthlawtraining.ca.
