Reference no: EM133197447 , Length: 5 pages

Assignment

- Read WTO case study: "Patents, parallel importation and compulsory licensing of HIV/AIDS drugs: the Experience of Kenya (bb)
- View film excerpt: "Fire and Blood" (bb)

Your management team is part of a pharmaceutical company that has been subpoenaed by Congress to testify about the company's decision to oppose the granting of compulsory licensing by the World Trade Organization to Kenya with respect to HIV/AIDS drugs developed and manufactured by the company. A compulsory license would permit a major Indian pharmaceutical competitor the right to manufacture a drug patented by your company and sell it at a fraction of the price in Kenya and possibly in other countries as well.

Your company incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development costs to produce this anti-viral drug and now it stands to lose a great deal of money in the manufacture and sale if the patent exception and compulsory license is granted. The shareholders will most certainly be angered over the year-end profit and loss statement. The publicity has also cast your company in a negative public image. It is expected that the company's advertising expenses will be substantial to restore its family oriented reputation.

Your company was also on the brink of developing a serum to cure Ebola but has had second thoughts given the problems in Kenya. The newspaper coverage has already created a "no-win" situation for your company:

"Ebola Cure Not Fully Developed Because Big Pharma Not Interested In Saving Lives Of Poor People In Africa