Recent Developments in Pharmaceutical Patenting and Compulsory Licensing of Pharmaceutical Patents in Developing Countries
Patent Docs: By Kevin E. Noonan — Two of the leaders among developing countries in challenging Western assumptions behind the TRIPS agreement and the WTO, Brazil and India, recently announced a further evolution of their national laws directed to implementing the provisions of that treaty. Brasil’s announcement concerns the administrative procedures governing the interaction between the Brazilian Patent Office (the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial or INPI) and its Public Health Service (the Agencia Nacional da Vigilancia Sanitaria or ANVISA). Under Brazilian law, ANVISA has the authority (and the responsibility) to grant prior consent to patent applications on pharmaceutical products and methods…