Krikorian, Gaelle --- "Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines: Paradoxes in Moroccan Policy" [2011] ELECD 955; in Shadlen, C. Kenneth; Guennif, Samira; Guzmán , Alenka; Lalitha, N. (eds), "Intellectual Property, Pharmaceuticals and Public Health" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Intellectual Property, Pharmaceuticals and Public Health

Editor(s): Shadlen, C. Kenneth; Guennif, Samira; Guzmán , Alenka; Lalitha, N.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800143

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines: Paradoxes in Moroccan Policy

Author(s): Krikorian, Gaelle

Number of pages: 21

Extract:

3. Intellectual property and access to
medicines: paradoxes in Moroccan
policy
Gaëlle Krikorian

Important changes have taken place in Morocco regarding intellectual
property rights and access to medicines in the past few years: changes in
the legal and policy framework and in the practices of institutions and
individuals. These developments follow at least two different logics: an
increased range and protection of exclusive rights on the one hand; better
access to health and medicines on the other.
Intellectual property law in Morocco has changed significantly in recent
years. In 2004 and then in 2006, legislation incorporated the standards
of protection required by the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as well as higher levels of protection
(TRIPS-plus). In the meantime, the Moroccan Office for Industrial and
Commercial Property started to issue patents on medicines in December
2004 and has since been granting more and more of them, using patent-
ability criteria which often do not seem to take into account Moroccan
public health interests. Meanwhile, national policies on medicines and
public health are facing challenges and changes. The local pharmaceutical
industry, mainly producing generic medicines and partly working under
multinational licenses, plays an important but declining role in supply-
ing the domestic market for basic medicines. This industry recently made
important investments in the modernization and increase of its manufac-
turing capacities in order to reach international production standards.
Despite the absence of patents on pharmaceutical products until recently,
prices of medicines are, on ...