# The One Rule That Made Global Trade in Pharmaceuticals Possible

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/global-trade-with-fexingo-wto-free-trade-agreements-and-international-commerce-7871813/the-one-rule-that-made-global-trade-in-pharmaceuticals-possible
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/global-trade-with-fexingo-wto-free-trade-agreements-and-international-commerce-7871813/the-one-rule-that-made-global-trade-in-pharmaceuticals-possible.md
Podcast: [Global Trade with Fexingo: WTO, Free Trade Agreements, and International Commerce](https://stenobird.com/podcast/global-trade-with-fexingo-wto-free-trade-agreements-and-international-commerce-7871813)
Published: 2026-07-13T07:36:42+00:00
Episode link: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/global-trade/episode-0108.mp3
Audio file: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/global-trade/episode-0108.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/global-trade-with-fexingo-wto-free-trade-agreements-and-international-commerce-7871813/episodes/the-one-rule-that-made-global-trade-in-pharmaceuticals-possible
Duration seconds: 605

## Resource

Episode 108 of Global Trade with Fexingo examines the World Trade Organization's 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPS, which created the legal backbone for cross-border pharmaceutical trade. Lucas and Luna walk through how TRIPS established minimum 20-year patent protection, forced countries like India and Brazil to rewrite their patent laws, and why the 2001 Doha Declaration on public health carved out compulsory licensing exceptions. They look at specific cases: India's 2013 Supreme Court rejection of Novartis' cancer drug Glivec patent, and how that ruling shaped generic drug access in developing countries. They also discuss the current tension over COVID-19 vaccine IP waivers and what TRIPS flexibilities actually allow. The episode explains why without TRIPS, drug companies would have no incentive to sell patented medicines in markets where local copycats could instantly reverse-engineer them. #GlobalTrade #Economics #WTO #TRIPS #IntellectualProperty #Pharmaceuticals #PatentLaw #DohaDeclaration #CompulsoryLicensing #Novartis #Glivec #India #GenericDrugs #PublicHealth #COVID19 #VaccineWaiver #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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