Morin, Jean-Frédéric; Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa --- "Pharmaceutical Patent Policy in Developing Countries: Learning from the Canadian Experience" [2011] ELECD 960; 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 8

Section Title: Pharmaceutical Patent Policy in Developing Countries: Learning from the Canadian Experience

Author(s): Morin, Jean-Frédéric; Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

8. Pharmaceutical patent policy in
developing countries: learning from
the Canadian experience1
Jean-Frédéric Morin and Mélanie Bourassa
Forcier

It is often believed that Canada is in a delicate position as regards adopting
a strongly different patent policy from the United States. It is true that the
Canadian economy is still greatly, although decreasingly, dependent on its
southern neighbor. The Canadian government intentionally strengthened
these economic and industrial ties by signing a bilateral free trade agree-
ment (FTA) with the US in 1987, followed by the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992. In 2008, 78 per cent of Canadian
exports were destined for the US market and 58 per cent of foreign direct
investment stock in Canada was owned by American investors (Canada
2009). Few other countries, including in Latin America, are as depend-
ent on the US economy and therefore vulnerable to US trade pressures
regarding their pharmaceutical patent policy.
Nevertheless, Canada did not hesitate to depart from the US model to
design a unique patent policy for pharmaceutical products. The history
of the Canadian pharmaceutical patent policy, although increasingly
imprinted by US influences, reveals a Canadian philosophy for justice
in access to health care services. One could even argue that universal
access to health services is a symbol of the Canadian identity and a source
of national pride, enabling Canadians to distinguish themselves from
Americans. In 2004, Tommy Douglas, a politician known as Canada's
father of Medicare, was named the Greatest Canadian ...