TRIPS from Doha to Cancún ... to Ottawa: global developments in access to treatment and Canada's Bill C-56

In November 2003, Canada introduced legislation to amend the Patent Act so that manufacturers could obtain licences to make generic versions of patented pharmaceutical products for export to countries lacking sufficient capacity to produce their own. Bill C-56 aims to implement an August 2003 decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that relaxes its rules on pharmaceutical patents to allow this kind of measure. While the bill is a welcome development, it contains several serious flaws that will undermine the initiative and render it largely meaningless. Civil society organizations, including the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, have called on the Canadian government to remedy the flaws before Bill C-56 is enacted. This article provides an overview of recent global developments leading up to Canada's initiative, as well as an analysis of Bill C-56 itself.