Dr. Ciara Conlan:

This goes back to international trade law. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS, agreement in 1994 standardised patent law across countries with the result that one had to give a minimum of 20 years of patent protection. Obviously, there is a need to implement some flexibilities where there is a great public health need and countries are free to define their own public health need. One of the flexibilities in international trade law is the mechanism called a compulsory license, where one can, without the permission of the patent holder, produce the medicine domestically for sale at generic prices, while paying a small royalty or some royalty to the patent holder to compensate.