Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Gehl Sampath, Padmashree
Author-Email: sampath@intech.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies
Title: Designing National Regimes that Promote Public Health Objectives
Abstract: The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects on Intellectual Property Rights, 1995, has
	 introduced several mandatory changes to patent protection on pharmaceuticals that
	 can affect health care and delivery in developing countries. The potential
	 detrimental impacts of such IPR protection raise three major concerns for
	 developing countries in the area of public health:
 	 (a) How can developing countries deal with price increases that can result from
	 increased patent protection to ensure access to and availability of essential
	 medicines in the future?
	 (b) How can developing countries deal with any negative impacts that intellectual
	 property rights may have on restricting their space for innovation and learning in
	 the pharmaceutical sector?
	 If intellectual property rights are not sufficient incentives, what other
	 instruments can developing countries look up to, in order to foster research into
	 diseases of importance to their populations?
	 Given that IPRs form an integral part of technology policy, for a good technology
	 policy that promotes the goal of public health, options within the IPR system are
	 no doubt very important, but options outside the IPR system which help developing
	 countries achieve their development objectives are equally important. The main
	 focus of this paper is to explore options outside IPR regimes that can help achieve
	 flexibility, such as parallel imports and compulsory licensing, in addition to many
	 others in the realm of competition law and policy, for developing countries to be
	 able to pursue technology policies that guarantee public health
Keywords: TRIPS, IPRs, Intellectual Property, Agreements, Trade, Pharmaceuticals, Developing
	 Countries, Drug Prices, Technology Policy, Innovation
Series: Discussion Paper
Creation-Date: 2003
Number: 2003-08
File-URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/2003-8.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 155 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unuint:200308