Intellectual property rights and its implications for the pharmaceutical industry in Iraq under accession to the World Trade Organization

The main risks arising from the WTO Agreement are the inequality and lack of competitivenessof most pharmaceutical goods, as well as the fact that Iraq is a net importer of medicines that areat the core of consumer needs, The subject matter of the Convention on the Protection ofIntellectual Property Rights and its implications for the pharmaceutical industry, in particular,coinciding with the situation of financial and administrative corruption, all of which has resultedin drug fraud in the Iraqi market and its impact on public health. The control of medicaltechnology, the persistence of the technological gap and its effects on high price levels, and thefact that domestic drug producers are obliged to obtain production licenses from global companiesin the light of limited access to pharmaceutical research and development. The research aims atthe impact of economic liberalization within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and itsnegative effects on consumers by highlighting the economic and social effects on consumption byraising prices and monopolies and restricting the volume of consumer demand because of the lossof the competitive advantage of pharmaceutical goods. Iraq's unwillingness to accede to theInternational Convention for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights of the World TradeOrganization (WTO) and the deterioration of the pharmaceutical industry meant increaseddependence on the outside, increased trade deficits, higher price levels, and its adverse effects onconsumers. Iraq finds it difficult for developed countries to use their intellectual rights as well asrestrict industrial and agricultural work because production and production methods are nowsubject to their intellectual property protection law, which prevents any possible industrialdevelopment. The most significant potential short-term impact of TRIPS is the decline in drugproduction, which continues to be protected. The great challenge for drug producers is the need to