Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The opening chapter examines the historical tensions between intellectual-property law, international trade, and public health. Journeying onward from the initial negotiations of the WTO TRIPS Agreement and the heavy-handed influence exerted by industry lobbies and the developed nations, the chapter traces the strong resistance and eventual compromises and capitulations by the developing nations on public-health-related trade norms. Even though the emergence of counter-movements in countries such as India and Brazil represented an attempt at rebalancing the system, international power dynamics led to public-health-related safeguards being relegated to the status of rare exceptions. The analysis draws from a game-theory framework to outline the different and specific types of interactions between nations and other vested interests that have characterized the trade regime. A history of international negotiations on trade is used to demonstrate how TRIPS norms became the threshold or floor for IP harmonization. In recognizing the power dynamics inherent in the “pharmaceutical food chain,” this chapter lays the groundwork for an examination of the necessity for a fundamental realignment of health-care access within the trade-IP regime.</jats:p>