Impact of the World Trade Organization TRIPS Agreement on the pharmaceutical industry in Thailand

the 1994 world trade organization (wto) agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (trips) established minimum universal standards in all areas of intellectual property. it is intended to implement these standards globally through a wto enforcement mechanism. the present article proposes a strategy for alleviating the potentially negative impact of trips in thailand in relation to the following: purchasers; prescribers and dispensers; producers; products; price control; patent-to-third-party; parallel imports; power of the customer; patentable new drugs; personnel; and prevention policies. the following trips provisions are pertinent to the pharmaceutical industry in thailand: the limited term of product and process patents; the conditions of protection; and the broad scope for compulsory licensing and enforcement procedures in the national patent system.