Intellectual property rights are affecting human rights in several areas such as public health, access to knowledge and agriculture, and human rights advocates have a decisive role to play to reverse the trend, according to members of a recent panel discussion on the negative impacts of intellectual property systems. The event organised on 13 March by the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC) and 3D -> Trade - Human Rights - Equitable Economy in cooperation with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, brought together speakers whose primary aim was to provide entry points and opportunities for human rights advocates to challenge the current trend in intellectual property policy-making.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
Panel Sees Tension Between Intellectual Property And Human Rights
Saez C: Intellectual Property Watch, 20 March 2008
Panel shows flaws in global intellectual property enforcement push, especially for developing countries
Mara K: Intellectual Property Watch, 31 July 2008
Intellectual property is the last real comparative advantage that rich countries have, said a panellist at a recent International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) joint event. This may explain an increasing global drive for enforcement of these rights, but does not mean that such enforcement is necessarily good for developing countries.
Patam sends letter to African finance ministers
Finance Ministers that attended the World Bank spring meetings in Washington towards the end of April were urged by the Pan-African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM) to ensure that urgent attention be paid to building the internal capacity of African countries to marshal their own resources against HIV/AIDS, reject fiscal conditions that imply a decline in additional donated revenues for HIV/AIDS, demand full debt cancellation and upport efforts to highlight transparency, accountability and representation in the IMF and World Bank. PATAM send a letter to African ministers of finance which can be read by clicking on the link below.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30407
Patent pooling is next step For innovative drug purchasing agency
Mara K: Intellectual Property Watch, 9 July 2008
At its eighth executive board meeting in Geneva on 2 and 3 July, market-oriented drug purchasing mechanism UNITAID agreed to the principle of establishing a patent pool - that is, a collection of intellectual property assets with the consent of their rights holders, for easier licensing to third party manufacture or researchers. This “landmark” decision for drug financing in poor and underserved areas agrees on the usefulness of sharing intellectual property rights to lower costs and increase quality of needed medicines.
Patent pools for ARVs: Industry perspectives from ASPEN
Nicolaou S: AIDS Journal 4: 60–61, 19 January 2010
In this article, the author states that affordability through reduced pricing is only one part of enhancing access to treatment in public health emergencies: supply security and the guarantee of supply consistency is the other. To the extent that patent pooling is able to create regional African manufacturing capability, Africans will support the concept. However, if it further decentralises manufacture away from the continent and increases Africa’s dependence on imports, it can potentially weaken supply security and will continue to relegate Africa a continent of dependency, rather than one that invests in its own capability. The author cautions that patent pooling should be viewed guardedly on the African continent and only be embraced if it is consistent with the AU Heads of State’s call for an African manufacturing plan. Africa must aspire to move from ‘converting charity dollars into sustainable, long term investment dollars’.
Patent rights and economic growth: Evidence from cross-country panels of manufacturing industries
Hu AGZ and Png IPL: National University of Singapore, August 2010
The primary objective of patent rights is to foster innovation and economic growth, but the authors of this study conclude that there is little robust evidence that patents ‘work’ as intended. The authors found that stronger patent rights were related to greater patenting or research and development but could not find a direct link to economic growth. Instead, the role of stronger patent rights in generating growth and adding value at the industry level is relatively greater in richer countries, confirming that the impact of intellectual property (IP) rights may be only positive in richer countries and, conversely, negative or insignificant in poorer countries. The authors focused their research on the efficiency of patents at country and industry levels, noting that patent-intensive industries such as pharmaceuticals and chemicals respond more to patent rights and will require further research. They found that most of the existing patent-related literature contains the statistical problem of reverse causation, where the reasoning of stronger patent rights providing more research and development, innovation and economic growth can be challenged by the reverse reasoning of richer countries being more controlled by industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, that lobby legislators to pass stronger patent laws ‘to make sure they get wealthier’.
Patents impeding medical care and innovation?
Gold ER, Kaplan W, Orbinski J, Harland-Logan S and N-Marandi S: PLoS Med 7(1), January 5, 2010
Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers argue that the current patent system is crucial for stimulating research and development (R&D), leading to new products that improve medical care. The financial return on their investments that is afforded by patent protection, they claim, is an incentive toward innovation and reinvestment into further R&D. But this view has been challenged in recent years. Many commentators argue that patents are stifling biomedical research, for example by preventing researchers from accessing patented materials or methods they need for their studies. Patents have also been blamed for impeding medical care by raising prices of essential medicines, such as antiretroviral drugs, in poor countries. This debate examines whether and how patents are impeding health care and innovation.
Patents versus patients in the fight against AIDS
Thangsing C, Abraham KK: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, March 2007
The global community has no hope of ending the AIDS pandemic as long as the interests of drug companies are rated higher than the lives of people in low- and middle-income countries. The innovations of the pharmaceutical industry have transformed AIDS, at least in the western world, from a virtual death sentence into a chronic, treatable disease. Our aim is not to destroy the geese that lay the golden eggs. However, a balance must—and can— be struck between protecting profits and protecting people’s lives. Drug companies are in the business of protecting profits. It is incumbent upon the citizens of the global community to protect people’s lives.
Further details: /newsletter/id/32151
Patents versus patients: Five years after the Doha declaration
Oxfam International, November 2006
This Oxfam briefing paper discusses the actions that countries have taken towards meeting their obligations made at the Doha Declaration on the TRIPs (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement and Public health in November 2001. The Declaration says that developing countries can enforce public health safeguards to enable price reductions on medicines, and that countries with insufficient drug manufacturing capacity can access generic medicines (medicines produced in developing countries which are cheaper than brand name drugs). The paper finds that although public health safeguards have been weakened or eliminated through bilateral and regional free trade agreements, many developing countries are still managing to enforce them.
Patents, access to medicines and the role of NGO's
One-third of the world’s population lacks access to the most basic essential drugs. For the destitute sick in the developing world, the price of medicines can determine whether they will be treated. Patents drive drug prices up, the resultant monopoly status allowing the producer to charge whatever price the market will bear. The World Trade OrganizationTrade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which provides 20 years’ patent protection for pharmaceuticals, also includes safeguards such as compulsory licensing, to ensure that countries can override patents whenever they are a barrier to access to medicines. Experience from South Africa, Thailand, Kenya and Guatemala shows the enormous pressures countries face in implementing theTRIPS Agreement in a manner that protects public health and underscores the vital role played by civil society in defending the right to access affordable medicines.