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Pandemic, Patents and Public Health

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Title Pandemic, Patents and Public Health
 
Creator Manchikanti, Padmavati
Dias, Michelle
 
Subject Pandemic
Covid-19
Public Health
Compulsory Licensing
TRIPS Agreement
Patents
 
Description 187-198
The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled a relook at public healthcare and the patent systems. It has brought to halt
livelihoods with devastating consequences to people’s lives national economies. Global health security is at stake as there is
a need to develop and deploy more vaccines, repurpose medicines and increase medical infrastructure support. Collaboration
and collective response is imperative at international and national levels. IPR access is crucial in relation to public health.
Many countries have issued new policies and enacted laws to make it easier for them to supply medicines to their population
during the pandemic. Compulsory licensing has been used as an important mechanism to open up IP without the permission
of patent holders. The present study analyses amendments to patent law and IP legislations that are effected from a cross
country perspective during the pandemic time. It also examines international cooperation in the context of public health and
IP under the TRIPS Agreement in view of the on-going consultation at the WTO. The study reveals differences in
approaches to ‘governmental use’ of patents and access to know-how under the statutory framework. Improving the scope of
use of products and process patents, suspension of patent term extension, consolidating the compulsory licensing
mechanism, removal of inequity are the predominant aspects that are part of the amendments to patent law in the countries.
Pandemics like COVID-19 need legislative initiatives to secure healthcare system access for all citizens. Healthcare
access includes ready availability of basic vaccines, drugs, medical devices and medical infrastructure. There is often a clash
between access to healthcare as a fundamental right on one hand and the need to award monopolies in the form of IP rights
as an incentive for innovations from the pharmaceutical industry on the other. Hence, obstacles arise in decision-making to
balance innovation incentives and ensuring rights to access healthcare. Judicial decision-making and public policy-making
have been always at the centre stage in earlier epidemics and now in the current pandemic making it imperative for countries
to protect the health interests of their citizens.
 
Date 2021-11-01T10:18:20Z
2021-11-01T10:18:20Z
2021-07
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 0975-1076 (Online); 0971-7544 (Print)
http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/58376
 
Language en
 
Publisher NIScPR-CSIR, India
 
Source JIPR Vol.26(4) [July 2021]