Trade, Investment, IP and Health

Trade, investment, intellectual property and health laws and norms interact in multiple ways, both to the benefit of health and to its detriment. This subject explores the harmonies and tensions across these critical areas of policy and governance at legal, normative, operational and institutional levels. It draws out key themes by examining major global health challenges of our time including pandemics (primarily COVID-19) and other international health emergencies, and noncommunicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease). The subject examines several high-profile areas of controversy in detail, such as: the tensions between intellectual property protection and access to affordable medicines and vaccines; restrictions on international trade (including in medicines, vaccines and medical equipment) imposed by countries in response to COVID-19; and the World Trade Organization and investment treaty challenges to tobacco packaging laws.