Where are the Cures? How Patent Gridlock is Blocking the Development of Lifesaving Drugs

Over the last thirty years, investment in the research and development of pharmaceuticals has risen dramatically.  However, the availability of new drugs has not matched the rise in investment.  Instead, Michael Heller has found that the pharmaceutical industry is stuck in a “patent gridlock”[1], where patent owners are blocking inventors from using patented products and […]

Economic Benefits Lie at the Heart of Patent Protection, Not Altruism

The ideas that an inventor’s time and investments should be protected and new inventions encouraged through the granting of patents, underlie some of the justifications of our current patent system.  Theorists such as Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham claim that patents are necessary to encourage invention at no social cost (1).  Professor Heller of Columbia Law […]

Canada's Pledge to Africa: Effective at Last or Least Effective?

After years of waiting, Canadian legislation designed to encourage shipments of low-cost HIV/AIDS drugs to developing countries has finally been put to use.  Unfortunately, the delay has only served to highlight some of the problems with the initiative. The shipment of 7 million tablets was sent to Rwanda on September 24 using Canada’s Access to […]

Is Canada Delivering on its Pledge to Aid Africa?

In 1999, between 1.3 and 2.1 billion people did not have access to essential medicines (around 30% of the world’s population), with most of these people being concentrated in Africa and India.[1] In May 2004, after pressure from Canadian civil society groups and Stephen Lewis (the UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa), and in […]

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in the Face of a Potential Pandemic

Issues surrounding medicine patents truly test the moral groundings of patent law.  Specifically, when companies develop and patent drugs that treat life threatening diseases, the inherent morality behind restrictive patent laws seems to lose legitimacy.  The objectives underlying intellectual property must be weighed against the immediate humanitarian agenda.  The anti-patent camp can argue that corporations […]

Thailand’s “War on Drugs”

Thailand is at war, with battles taking place on several fronts. Over 600,000 people in Thailand are infected with HIV and the government is fighting the epidemic by administering HIV treatment and medication through its universal healthcare system. But HIV drugs are costly. In order to provide its people with the necessary medication, Thailand has […]

The Negative Effects of Thailand Invoking Article 31

 In 2003, the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development ("Tufts") estimated the cost to develop a new drug to be in excess of $850 million.¦lt;br /> Today, that figure is likely well into the billions.  Tufts also found that approximately 20% of new drugs that enter clinical testing eventually receive U.S. marketing approval.  […]

Good vs. Evil? India rejects Novartis claim on drug improvements

India’s rejection of Novartis’ claim on drug improvements highlights the flexibility of India’s patent laws. Such flexibility stands in sharp contrast to the World Trade Organization’s efforts to set standards for intellectual property regulation (via TRIPS agreement) and has enabled India to become a worldwide producer of cheap drugs. Various health agencies have proclaimed the […]

Thailand vs. Pharma-Giants: Challenging the Justification for IP

In an attempt to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Thailand, the Thai government decided to bypass the patents on anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) by issuing compulsory licenses to manufacture generic copies of these drugs. The result of this gutsy move is affordable, locally-made alternatives that are dispensed to patients for free via the government's universal healthcare […]

Novartis challenges Indian IP law

A Swiss pharmaceutical company, Novartis, sought to have the January 2006 decision to reject its patent application for the cancer drug imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) reversed by the Chennai High Court in India. Gleevec is used in the treatment of Leukemia. Novartis sells Gleevec at $2500 per patient per month in India; generic versions cost $175 […]