In the context of Africa's struggle against global trade regimes and their governance, this paper examines how the exercise of intellectual property rights on biopharmaceutical products, such as antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), results in a clash of interests between national governments and pharmaceutical companies. It is contended that these conflicts produce serious effects on public health, especially in developing African countries. The clash between the South African government and major pharmaceutical companies over ARVs, in 1998 and 2001, was examined based on theories of labour and the nature of ideas. Data for the study was collected through documentary analysis methodology and used to examine the positions of South Africa, as a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement signatory, and those of pharmaceutical companies, as non-state actors. Following a deconstruction of the main arguments of pha