Bird Flu Meets Patent Rights – The Public/ Private Balance

In December 2005 the World Trade Organisation (WTO) members decided to transform a previously temporary waiver into a permanent amendment of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement, which sets out agreed standards for national intellectual property systems. The waiver seeks to improve access to patented medicines for poorer countries.

This topic has received much attention recently due to the threat posed by the so-called "Bird Flu" virus, which has once again highlighted the need to balance private patent rights against public health issues. If the H5N1 Bird Flu strain were to mutate into a form capable of human-to-human transmission, a pandemic could result in millions of deaths. Past pandemics have attacked up to 25% to 35% of the total population, with at least 40 million people killed in the pandemic of 1918.