Intellectual property provisions of pharmaceuticals in new generation free trade agreements

New generation free trade agreements indicate a new trend in terms of bilateral or multilateral trade agreements and they contain important regulations regarding intellectual property rights. Intellectual property provisions of pharmaceuticals have a special importance among these regulations. Beside of that, access to medicines and vaccines has become more important than ever as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated. In this study, firstly, specifics of the new generation free trade agreements has been addressed and then access to medicines is evaluated in terms of the right to health. In this context, the effects of the relevant provisions of new generation free trade agreements are examined in terms of access to medicines. The existence of a conflict between the right to health and intellectual property right has been questioned and the possibility of a systemic conflict between human rights law and international trade law is examined accordingly. Lastly, it has been evaluated whether the new generation free trade agreements are in conflict with the previous multilateral agreements. Keywords: New Generation Free Trade Agreements, Access to Medicines, Intellectual Property Rights, Right to Health, Conflict of Norms