The Third World Network is pleased to announce the publication of a new title, Product Patent Protection, the TRIPS LDC Exemption and the Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Industry by Sudip Chaudhuri, in its Intellectual Property Rights Series.

As a least developed country (LDC), Bangladesh is currently exempted from the requirements under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to grant patent protection for pharmaceutical products. Consequently, there is scope for the country’s pharmaceutical industry to manufacture and sell medicines whose production would otherwise be controlled by a patent-holding firm.