Pharmaceutical Patents, Trips, And The Right To Health: Reconciling Innovation With Equity
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Janani A, B.A.LL.B. (Hons), SASTRA Deemed University
Kavya K, B.A.LL.B. (Hons), SASTRA Deemed University
ABSTRACT
The conflict between the drug patents and the right to health has perhaps been the most controversial matter of the contemporary intellectual property rights (IPR) regime. Patents are intended to promote innovation by giving pharmaceutical companies the sole rights of use; however, this protection is frequently accompanied by the practices of monopoly and over-inflated drug prices. Access to "extremely high-priced" basic medicines is, therefore, drastically limited, particularly in underdeveloped and developing countries, which is a direct violation of the right to health, the most basic human right. The corporations are trapped in the abovementioned crisis, so international agencies like the Doha Declaration (2001) and the TRIPS agreement of the World Trade Organization put forward new provisions, for example, compulsory licensing that could help overcome it. According to them, the local authorities are allowed not only to procure a generic drug of a relatively low price but also to produce the medicines patented and necessary for dealing with the public health crisis, even in the absence of patent rights holders' consent during a public health emergency. It claims that the existing intellectual property rights regime finds it difficult to strike the right balance between the two key aims of the system, one being to reward through patent protection, the other being the universal human right to health. To tackle such problems, the health sector may be required to implement and pursue reformation policies that would mostly dedicate themselves to public health and, thereby, ensure that medicines are easy to obtain under normal conditions as well as in the case of major health crises like a pandemic. Without these changes, a large portion of medical innovation will not be easily accessible for a significant part of the global population.
Keywords: Pharmaceutical patents, Intellectual property law, public health
