Pharmaceutical patent protection and TRIPS challenges for Bangladesh : an appraisal of Bangladesh's Patent Office and Department of Drug Administration

This paper examines the TRIPS Agreement as it applies to Bangladesh in the context of pharmaceutical patents. An important aspect of the Agreement is ensuring that the regulatory agencies are ready and able to apply and interpret the new intellectual property regime that will be required by TRIPS. An appraisal of the capacity of Bangladesh's regulatory agencies, particularly the Department of Patent Design and Trademarks and the Directorate of Drug Administration becomes even more important as Bangladesh is required to have a TRIPS compliant regime for the pharmaceutical sector from 1 January 2016.