Intellectual Property Pharmaceuticals And Public Health

'This impressive collection offers fascinating new perspectives on the impact of pharmaceutical patents on access to medicines in developing countries. The volume's editors have put together an important book that sets out clearly the challenges to public health in a wide range of national contexts. The book will be a valuable text for all scholars and decision-makers interested in the global politics of intellectual property rights and public health.' – Duncan Matthews, Queen Mary, University of London, UK This up-to-date book examines pharmaceutical development, access to medicines, and the protection of public health in the context of two fundamental changes that the global political economy has undergone since the 1970s, the globalization of trade and production and the increased harmonization of national regulations on intellectual property rights. With authors from eleven different countries presenting case studies of national experiences in Africa, Asia and the Americas, the book analyzes national strategies to promote pharmaceutical innovation, while at the same time assuring widespread access to medicines through generic pharmaceutical production and generic pharmaceutical importation. The expert chapters focus on patents as well as an array of regulatory instruments, including pricing and drug registration policies. Presenting in-depth analysis and original empirical research, this book will strongly appeal to academics and students of intellectual property, international health, international political economy, international development and law.

Across the world, developing countries are attempting to balance the international standards of intellectual property concerning pharmaceutical patents against the urgent need for accessible and affordable medicines. In this timely and necessary book, Monirul Azam examines the attempts of several developing countries to walk this fine line. He evaluates the experiences of Brazil, China, India, and South Africa for lessons to guide Bangladesh and developing nations everywhere. Azam's legal expertise, concern for public welfare, and compelling grasp of principal case studies make Intellectual Property and Public Health in the Developing World a definitive work. The developing world is striving to meet the requirements of the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Agreement on intellectual property. This book sets out with lucidity and insight the background of the TRIPS Agreement and its implications for pharmaceutical patents, the consequences for developing countries, and the efforts of certain representative nations to comply with international stipulations while still maintaining local industry and public health. Azam then brings the weight of this research to bear on the particular case of Bangladesh, offering a number of specific policy recommendations for the Bangladeshi government—and for governments the world over. Intellectual Property and Public Health in the Developing World is a must-read for public policy-makers, academics and students, non-governmental organizations, and readers everywhere who are interested in making sure that developing nations meet the health care needs of their people.

Intellectual Property, Medicine and Health examines critical issues and debates including access to knowledge and medicinal products, human rights and development, innovations in life technologies and the possibility for ethical frameworks for intellectual property law and its application in public health. The central question of trust and the beneficial interests of society in the use of products of intellectual property, particularly in the fulfillment of the right to access medicinal products, emerge as key to achieving meaningful access to knowledge in health and medicine and the realization of relevant and equitable use of the benefits of scientific research in all societies.

Millions of people around the world do not have access to the medicines they need to treat disease or alleviate suffering. Strict patent regimes introduced following the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995 interfere with widespread access to medicines by creating monopolies that keep medicines prices well out of reach for many. 0The AIDS crisis in the late nineties brought access to medicines challenges to the public?s attention, when millions of people in developing countries died from an illness for which medicines existed, but were not available or affordable. Faced with an unprecedented health crisis ? 8,000 people dying daily ? the public health community launched an unprecedented global effort that eventually resulted in the large-scale availability of low-priced generic HIV medicines. 0But now, high prices of new medicines - for example, for cancer, tuberculosis and hepatitis C - are limiting access to treatment in low-, middle and high-income countries alike. Patent-based monopolies affect almost all medicines developed since 1995 in most countries, and global health policy is now at a critical juncture if the world is to avoid new access to medicines crises. 0This book discusses lessons learned from the HIV/AIDS crisis, and asks whether actions taken to extend access and save lives are exclusive to HIV or can be applied more broadly to new global access challenges.

Across the world, developing countries are attempting to balance the international standards of intellectual property law concerning pharmaceutical patents against the urgent need for accessible and affordable medicines. In this timely and necessary book, Monirul Azam examines the attempts of several developing countries to walk this fine line, evaluating the experiences of Brazil, China, India and South Africa for lessons to guide Bangladesh in particular, and developing nations everywhere. Azam's legal expertise, concern for public welfare, and compelling grasp of principal case studies make Intellectual Property and Public Health a definitive work. The developing world is striving to meet the requirements of the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Agreement on intellectual property. This book sets out with lucidity and insight the background of the TRIPS Agreement and its implications for pharmaceutical patents, the consequences for poorer countries, and the eff orts of certain representative nations to comply with international stipulations while still maintaining local industry and public health. Azam then brings the weight of this research to bear on the particular case of Bangladesh, offering a number of specific policy recommendations for the Bangladeshi government-and for governments the world over. Intellectual Property and Public Health is a must-read for public policy-makers, legal scholars and workers, non-governmental organizations, and readers everywhere who are interested in making sure that developing nations meet the health care needs of their people.

Intellectual Property and Health Technologies Balancing Innovation and the Public's Health Joanna T. Brougher, Esq., MPH At first glance, ownership of intellectual property seems straightforward: the control over an invention or idea. But with the recent explosion of new scientific discoveries poised to transform public health and healthcare systems, costly and lengthy patent disputes threaten both to undermine the attempts to develop new medical technologies and to keep potentially life-saving treatments from patients who need them. Intellectual Property and Health Technologies grounds readers in patent law and explores how scientific research and enterprise are evolving in response. Geared specifically to the medical disciplines, it differentiates among forms of legal protection for inventors such as copyrights and patents, explains their limits, and argues for balance between competing forces of exclusivity and availability. Chapters delve into the major legal controversies concerning medical and biotechnologies in terms of pricing, markets, and especially the tension between innovation and access, including: The patent-eligibility of genes The patent-eligibility of medical process patents The rights and roles of universities and inventors The balancing of access, innovation, and profit in drug development The tension between biologics, small-molecule drugs, and their generic counterparts International patent law and access to medicine in the developing world As these issues continue to shape and define the debate, Intellectual Property and Health Technologies enables professionals and graduate students in public health, health policy, healthcare administration, and medicine to understand patent law and how it affects the development of medical technology and the delivery of medicine.

This study has emerged from an ongoing program of trilateral cooperation between WHO, WTO and WIPO. It responds to an increasing demand, particularly in developing countries, for strengthened capacity for informed policy-making in areas of intersection between health, trade and IP, focusing on access to and innovation of medicines and other medical technologies.

"The research strategy, concepts, and methodologies developed in this book repay careful consideration not only for fruitful deployment to examine dynamics of health and intelectual property in other regions, but also for generating innovative insights in other fields of global regulatory governance"--Foreword.