Intellectual Property and Public Health
Patents, Innovation and Access
Academic commentators, a number of official reports, and some users of the patent system, including those involved in researching vaccines and treatments for "neglected" diseases, have raised a series of questions about the extent to which the incentives offered by the patent system may be effective or relevant, or may require improvement to meet the needs for diseases that particularly affect developing countries. Others raise issues about how intellectual property may affect access to medicines.
Documents
- Determining the patent status of essential medicines in developing countries
- Patents under the Spotlight: Sharing Practical Knowledge about Pharmaceutical Patents (May 2003) (updated June 2004) (Eng/Port/Spa)
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Statement by MSF at WIPO General Assembly (September, 30, 2004)
pdf, 92kb - UN Millennium Project Task force on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB, and Access to Essential Medicines (2005)
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MSF Written Submission to WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents, Eleventh Session (June 2005)
pdf, 657kb -
Statement by Médecins sans Frontières at the WIPO Inter-Sessional Intergovernmental meeting on a development agenda for WIPO (April 11-13 April 2005)
pdf, 86kb - MSF Comments on the WIPO Patent Agenda (2002)
- DFID studies that aim to analyse some of the processes and issues for improving access to medicines for the poor in developing countries.
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Testimony of the Biotechnology Industry Organization on Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge E-Based Economy Before the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice | Competition Policy Center and the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology | University of California at Berkeley | 26 February 2002
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Patents and Innovation: Trends and Policy Challenges | OECD | Paris, 2004
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How Do Patents And Economic Policies Affect Access To Essential Medicines In Developing Countries? | By Amir Attaran | Health Affairs, Vol 23, Issue 3, 155-166 | May/ June 2004
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A Patent System for the 21st Century | By S. A. Merill, R. C. Levin, M. B. Myers | Committee on Intellectual Property Rights in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy | National Research Council | 2004
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To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy | A Report by the Federal Trade Commission | October 2003
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Keeping science open: the effects of intellectual property policy on the conduct of science | The Royal Society | 2003
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Global Welfare in Pharmaceutical Patenting | F. M. Scherer | December 2003
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Estimating the Effects of Global Patent Protection in Pharmaceuticals: A Case Study of Quinolones in India | By S. Chaudhuri, P. Goldberg, P. Jia, mimeo | December 2003
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Integrating Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy | UK Commission on Intellectual Property Rights | 2002
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The Ethics of Patenting DNA: A Discussion Paper | Nuffield Council on Bioethics | 2002
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Do Patents for Antiretroviral Drugs Constrain Access to AIDS Treatment In Africa | By A. Attaran & L. Gillespie-White 2001 JAMA, vol. 286:15
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Post- TRIPS options for access to patented medicines in developing Countries | F.M.Scherer & Jayashree Watal | CMH Working Paper 4:1 | January 2001
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How Stronger Patent Protection in India Might Affect the Behavior of Transnational Pharmaceutical Industries | C. Fink | World Bank Working Paper No 2352 | 2000
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Strengthening Protection of Intellectual Property in Developing Countries: A Survey of the Literature | Wolfgang E. Siebeck, editor, with Robert E. Evenson, William Lesser, and Carlos A. Primo Braga | 1990
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A Better Way to Spur Medical Research and Development | By Rachel Glennerster and Michael Kremer
- IPR, Innovation, Human Rights and Access to Drugs [pdf 801kb]