On January 23, 2017, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) amendment to the WTO Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement entered into force when member states surpassed a two-thirds threshold of required ratifications. According to the press release, the member states “took the decision to amend the TRIPS Agreement specifically to adapt the rules of the global trading system to the public health needs of people in poor countries.” The amendment made permanent a waiver for the export of pharmaceuticals produced by compulsory licensing that originated in paragraph 6 of the 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health. Compulsory licensing allows countries to produce pharmaceuticals without the patent or consent of the patent owner, thus allowing the country to address national health problems it might not otherwise be able to overcome. While compulsory licensing has always existed under the TRIPS Agreement, it was limited to primarily domestic use by the producer. With the amendment, least developed countries that did not have the capacity to produce generic version of pharmaceuticals via compulsory licensing now have permanent legal grounds to import these generics. Member states that have not yet accepted the amendment have until the end of December 2017 to do so.