Pills for the Poorest : An Exploration of TRIPS and Access to Medication in Sub-Saharan Africa

The desperate need for a vast part of the global population to access better medicines in more certain ways is one of the biggest concerns of the modern era. Pills for the Poorest offers a new perspective on the much-debated issue of the links between intellectual property and access to medication. Using ethnographic case studies in Djibouti and Ghana, and insights from actor-network theory, it explores the ways in which TRIPs and pharmaceutical patents are translated in the daily practices of those who purchase, distribute, and use (or fail to use) medicines in sub-Saharan Africa. It suggests that focusing on routine practices and the material deployment of intellectual property significantly enriches our understanding of the complex dynamics that animate the field of access to medicines and helps relocate the role of law within those processes. It demonstrates how intellectual property affects access to medicines in ways that are often discreet, indirect and forgotten. By exploring these complex mechanisms, it seeks to ask questions about the modes of actions of pharmaceutical patents, but also, more generally, about the complexity of legal objects. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: Global IP and Pills for the Poorest....Pages 1-10 TRIPS as Assemblage....Pages 11-44 From Global Scripts to Local Translation....Pages 45-64 From IP to Public Health in Djibouti and Ghana....Pages 65-90 Pharmaceutical Patents as Silent Regulatory Tools: Escaping Branded Drugs in Djibouti....Pages 91-115 Ghana, Pharmaceutical Patents and the Ambivalence of Generic Medicines....Pages 116-151 Global Movements, Changing Markets and the Reshaping of Health and Disease....Pages 152-176 Conclusion: Pharmaceuticals and Socio-Legal Ambivalence....Pages 177-182 Back Matter....Pages 183-204 "This book offers a new perspective on the links between intellectual property and access to medication. Using local case studies and insights from actor-network theory, it explores the ways in which TRIPs is translated in the daily practices of those who purchase, distribute and use medicines in sub-Saharan Africa"-- Provided by publisher