Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the Pharmaceutical Industries in Cameroon: Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract

This research is an exploration of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) enforcement mechanism in the pharmaceutical industries in Cameroon with highlights on the challenges and perspectives. The researcher has made an appraisal of the genesis of Intellectual Property (IP) and definition of key words and concepts and went ahead to analyse the opinions of scholars in some relevant literature and then discussed the existing relevant treaties such as the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention, the Bangui Agreement and especially the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration on TRIPS flexibilities and health care. The researcher then interviewed some stakeholders and then gathered data from questionnaires administered to a representative sample of 50 respondents selected from the target population comprising stakeholders of the pharmaceutical industries in Cameroon. The analysis and interpretation of data collected using SPSS Software provided the researcher with some findings which confirmed the assumptions of this study given that they have a direct correlation with the weak IPR enforcement mechanism in the pharmaceutical industries in Cameroon. The findings embodied showed that the absence of a concrete political will, failure to streamline IP issues in the development agenda of Cameroon, corruption, ignorance of the IP issues by the enforcement institutions, absence of a central national IP coordination institution and the low level of awareness of the public are all contributing factors to the weak IPRs enforcement in the pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, to address these issues Government must consider IPRs enforcement as an issue of national sovereignty and treat counterfeit drug issue as a public health hazard and a direct threat to national, regional and international security given its multidimensional nature. In this wise, appropriate measures recommended include collaborative mechanisms through international cooperation, concrete political will, streamline of IPRs issues in the national development agenda, creation of a national agency for IP issues, raising public awareness, introduction of IP in the school curricula and allocation of appropriate human, financial and material resources for the fight against counterfeit medicines and the promotion of local pharmaceutical industries that take proper advantage of Cameroon‟s rich natural ecosystem with a wide variety of medicinal plants.