This project explores how the TRIPS Agreement has affected access to medicines and vaccines in developing countries. TRIPS, created in 1995 as part of the World Trade Organization, requires countries to follow strict patent rules, including giving pharmaceutical companies twenty years of exclusive rights over new drugs. People in support of stricter patent laws argue that they encourage innovation. However, critics argue that they raise medicine prices and make life-saving treatments harder to access in lower-income countries. This research examines how TRIPS was created and how it works in practice; it will first focus on case studies in India and Jordan. Before TRIPS, India was able to produce affordable generic medicines, which helped lower global drug prices. After TRIPS required stronger patent protections, India’s ability to produce newer generic drugs became more limited. Jordan adopted even stricter “TRIPS-plus” rules through a trade agreement with the United States, which led to higher medicine prices without increasing local innovation. The project also examines the HIV/AIDS crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic to show how patent protections affected global access to treatment during emergencies. Overall, this research argues that TRIPS often benefits wealthy countries and pharmaceutical companies more than developing countries. Although public-health exceptions exist on paper, political and economic pressure can prevent countries from using them. Reforming these rules is important to ensure fairer global access to medicines in the future.