The relationship between intellectual property (IP) and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector as well as access to essential medicines has been a central issue in the debate on IP and development within and outside of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this context, there have been, in recent years, a number of high profile events and processes including, the adoption at the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha in 2001 the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (the Doha Declaration).1 The implications of the rules under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) have been at the center of the WTO debate. Other important recent decisions include the World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health. These developments demonstrate, at least at the formal level, the growing international recognition that public health considerations condition the manner in which IP policies are formulated and implemented.