180 Original articles RECIIS - R. Eletr. de Com. Inf. Inov. Saúde. Rio de Janeiro, v.3, n.4, p.180-190, dez., 2009 Ronaldo Fiani Institute of Economics, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil fiani@ufrj.br 1 Maria Claudia Vater Institute for Studies on Collective Health, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, mcvater@iesc.ufrj.br 2 Letícia Galeazzi Winkler Institute for Studies on Collective Health, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil leticiagw@ig.com.br 3 Abstract Discussion about the impact of the international harmonization of higher-level patent protection in the public health sector of less developed countries just started to take place after the so-called Doha Decla- ration. This paper advocates a more intense discussion on patents, highlighting not only that estimates of benefits and losses resulting from greater patent protection have been negligent toward the loss of monopoly that result from patents, but especially the fact that they do not take into account the raise in public health costs in less wealthy countries that results from this tendency to harmonize. Key words patents; public health; TRIPS JEL Classification: O34; H51; F13 The international economic discussion on intellectual property: relevant aspects for the Brazilian health sector DOI: 10.3395/reciis.v3i4.293en Introduction The TRIPS agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), signed at the end of the Uruguay round in 1994, consolidated the movement towards the international standardization of property rights protection in general, specifically of patents, with a high level of rigor. This movement towards the standardization of intellectual property rights protection at a higher level, consistent with the protection offered by developed countries, became known as the international harmonization of