IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i4p3121-d1062188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Patents and Sustainable Medical Treatment in Developing Countries: Lessons from COVID-19 Vaccines

Author

Listed:
  • Ezgi Demir

    (Chair of Technology Management, Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg, 90762 Fürth, Germany)

  • Peter M. Bican

    (Chair of Technology Management, Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg, 90762 Fürth, Germany)

Abstract

COVID-19 has had devastating effects worldwide, and vaccines have become the most efficient solution to address the current pandemic situation thus far. After COVID-19 vaccines had been developed, discussions of the various countries’ equality of access gained traction, with patents and pricing forming a significant part of this discourse. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of patents and prices on the accessibility of COVID-19 vaccines in the developing world, using semi-structured interviews with subject-matter experts in this area of focus. Our analysis of these interviews highlights the fact that patents and prices are not the major barriers to accessibility for medical treatments, both generally and specifically in terms of COVID-19; rather, these barriers relate to the lack of local production capacity, technology transfer, infrastructure, local regulations, and supply-chain competencies. These results suggest that rather than focusing on patents and prices, governments should invest more time in improving technology transfer and using compulsory licenses as a negotiation tool. Moreover, the results show that the pricing strategies applied by companies could have different impacts on access, as could accessibility programs such as COVAX.

Suggested Citation

  • Ezgi Demir & Peter M. Bican, 2023. "Patents and Sustainable Medical Treatment in Developing Countries: Lessons from COVID-19 Vaccines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3121-:d:1062188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3121/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3121/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scherer, F.M., 2000. "The pharmaceutical industry," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 25, pages 1297-1336, Elsevier.
    2. Peter M. Bican & Dirk Caspary & Carsten C. Guderian, 2023. "Cross-Border Dynamics of IP Modularity: International Patenting in LEDs and Lithium-Ion Secondary Battery Technology," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 347-376, April.
    3. Forman, Rebecca & Shah, Soleil & Jeurissen, Patrick & Jit, Mark & Mossialos, Elias, 2021. "COVID-19 vaccine challenges: What have we learned so far and what remains to be done?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(5), pages 553-567.
    4. Samira Guennif, 2017. "Is Compulsory Licensing Bad for Public Health? Some Critical Comments on Drug Accessibility in Developing Countries," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 557-565, October.
    5. Rahmiye Figen Ceylan & Burhan Ozkan & Esra Mulazimogullari, 2020. "Historical evidence for economic effects of COVID-19," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(6), pages 817-823, August.
    6. Pieter Dylst & Arnold Vulto & Brian Godman & Steven Simoens, 2013. "Generic Medicines: Solutions for a Sustainable Drug Market?," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 11(5), pages 437-443, October.
    7. Cohen-Kohler, Jillian Clare & Forman, Lisa & Lipkus, Nathaniel, 2008. "Addressing legal and political barriers to global pharmaceutical access: Options for remedying the impact of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the impo," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 229-256, July.
    8. Samira Guennif, 2017. "Is compulsory licensing bad for public health: some critical comments on drug accessibility in developing countries," Post-Print hal-01487031, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Refolo, Pietro & Bloemen, Bart & Corsano, Barbara & Grin, John & Gutierrez-Ibarluzea, Iñaki & Hofmann, Bjørn & Oortwijn, Wija & Sampietro-Colom, Laura & Sandman, Lars & van der Wilt, Gert Jan & Sacchi, 2022. "Prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination. The added value of the “VALIDATE” approach," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(8), pages 770-776.
    2. Kong Juan & Kepili Ema Izati Binti Zull, 2023. "A Survey Analysis: The Current Real Estate Marketing Situation in the China Greater Bay Area in the Context of the COVID-19 Epidemic," Real Estate Management and Valuation, Sciendo, vol. 31(3), pages 1-19, September.
    3. DiMasi, Joseph A. & Hansen, Ronald W. & Grabowski, Henry G., 2003. "The price of innovation: new estimates of drug development costs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 151-185, March.
    4. Fabian Gaessler & Stefan Wagner, 2022. "Patents, Data Exclusivity, and the Development of New Drugs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 571-586, May.
    5. Antonio Cabrales, 2003. "Pharmaceutical generics, vertical product differentiation and public policy," Economics Working Papers 662, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    6. Canoy, Nico A. & Robles, Augil Marie Q. & Roxas, Gilana Kim T., 2022. "Bodies-in-waiting as infrastructure: Assembling the Philippine Government's disciplinary quarantine response to COVID-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    7. Donatella Saccone, 2021. "Can the Covid19 pandemic affect the achievement of the ‘Zero Hunger’ goal? Some preliminary reflections," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(7), pages 1025-1038, September.
    8. Yin, Nina, 2023. "Pharmaceuticals, incremental innovation and market exclusivity," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Brekke, Kurt R. & Holmas, Tor Helge & Straume, Odd Rune, 2011. "Reference pricing, competition, and pharmaceutical expenditures: Theory and evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 624-638.
    10. Pedro Pita Barros, 2011. "The simple economics of risk‐sharing agreements between the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 461-470, April.
    11. Allen Bellas & Lea-Rachel Kosnik, 2023. "The Local and Aggregated Impacts of Stay-at-Home Orders on State Level Unemployment Outcomes," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 142-155, April.
    12. Jesús Marquina & María José Colinet & María del P. Pablo-Romero, 2021. "Measures to Promote Olive Grove Biomass in Spain and Andalusia: An Opportunity for Economic Recovery against COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-33, October.
    13. Hemant G. Tripathi & Harriet E. Smith & Steven M. Sait & Susannah M. Sallu & Stephen Whitfield & Astrid Jankielsohn & William E. Kunin & Ndumiso Mazibuko & Bonani Nyhodo, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-19 on Diverse Farm Systems in Tanzania and South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, September.
    14. Christine de Mazières & Valérie Paris, 2004. "La régulation de l’industrie pharmaceutique," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 76(3), pages 241-265.
    15. Milstein, Ricarda & Shatrov, Kosta & Schmutz, Lea Miranda & Blankart, Carl Rudolf, 2022. "How to pay primary care physicians for SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations: An analysis of 43 EU and OECD countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(6), pages 485-492.
    16. Paul A. Schulte & Ivo Iavicoli & Luca Fontana & Stavroula Leka & Maureen F. Dollard & Acran Salmen-Navarro & Fernanda J. Salles & Kelly P. K. Olympio & Roberto Lucchini & Marilyn Fingerhut & Francesco, 2022. "Occupational Safety and Health Staging Framework for Decent Work," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-28, August.
    17. Sudhanshu Joshi & Manu Sharma, 2022. "A Literature Survey on Vaccine Supply Chain Management Amidst COVID-19: Literature Developments, Future Directions and Open Challenges for Public Health," World, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-28, October.
    18. Mondelo-García, Cristina & Mendoza, Elvia & Movilla-Fernández, María-Jesús & Coronado, Carmen, 2018. "Perceptions of pharmacists and physicians on generic substitution in a financial crisis context in Northwestern Spain: A qualitative study," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(12), pages 1316-1325.
    19. Miguel Orden-Mejía & Mauricio Carvache-Franco & Assumpció Huertas & Wilmer Carvache-Franco & Nathalie Landeta-Bejarano & Orly Carvache-Franco, 2022. "Post-COVID-19 Tourists’ Preferences, Attitudes and Travel Expectations: A Study in Guayaquil, Ecuador," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-17, April.
    20. Bentur, Netta & Gross, Revital & Brammli-Greenberg, Shuli, 2004. "Satisfaction with and access to community care of the chronically ill in Israel's health system," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 129-136, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3121-:d:1062188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.