IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgph00/0000683.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of patent waivers and compulsory licensing in facilitating access to COVID-19 vaccines: Findings from a survey among healthcare practitioners in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Obi Peter Adigwe
  • Davidson Oturu

Abstract

The roll out of COVID-19 vaccines has again revealed the gap between high income countries and developing nations in terms of access to healthcare commodities and services. With the slow vaccination roll out in many low income countries and the emergence of more contagious variants of COVID-19, many persons are at risk of contracting the disease in settings with low immunisation coverage. This study aimed at exploring the views of healthcare practitioners on the role of patent waivers and compulsory licensing in facilitating access to vaccines. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among practitioners in the health sector, which comprised private, public, and development agencies. A well structured and validated questionnaire was administered to the study participants using both physical and online methods of administration in Nigerian setting. A total of 526 respondents participated in the study, majority of them were males (54.4%). A third of the study participants (31.1%) had postgraduate degrees. A strong majority of the respondents (81.2%) agreed that the role of patent is to promote innovation, whilst 70.6% of them indicated that intellectual property waivers can improve access to COVID-19 vaccines. Slightly above half of the respondents (56.0%) indicated that patent waivers can reduce innovation in the pharmaceutical sector, they however indicated that such challenge can be mitigated by granting incentives to innovators whose intellectual property rights had been waived. This study has revealed that there is a need for intellectual property rights waiver and compulsory licensing of all novel COVID-19 commodities including vaccines, as this is an important strategy that can improve access to relevant products in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Obi Peter Adigwe & Davidson Oturu, 2022. "The role of patent waivers and compulsory licensing in facilitating access to COVID-19 vaccines: Findings from a survey among healthcare practitioners in Nigeria," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(7), pages 1-11, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0000683
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000683
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000683
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000683&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000683?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark A. Lemley & Carl Shapiro, 2005. "Probabilistic Patents," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(2), pages 75-98, Spring.
    2. Goel, Rajeev K. & Saunoris, James W. & Goel, Srishti S., 2021. "Supply chain performance and economic growth: The impact of COVID-19 disruptions," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 298-316.
    3. Sneha Gautam & Luc Hens, 2020. "COVID-19: impact by and on the environment, health and economy," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 4953-4954, August.
    4. Shavell, Steven & van Ypersele, Tanguy, 2001. "Rewards versus Intellectual Property Rights," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(2), pages 525-547, October.
    5. Petra Moser & Alessandra Voena, 2012. "Compulsory Licensing: Evidence from the Trading with the Enemy Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 396-427, February.
    6. Frederick M. Abbott, 2002. "The Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health: Lighting a Dark Corner at the WTO," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(2), pages 469-505, July.
    7. Reed Beall & Randall Kuhn, 2012. "Trends in Compulsory Licensing of Pharmaceuticals Since the Doha Declaration: A Database Analysis," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, January.
    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. Eric W. Bond & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "Compulsory licensing, price controls, and access to patented foreign products," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 19, pages 437-448, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Nancy Gallini, 2011. "Private agreements for coordinating patent rights: the case of patent pools," ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2011(3), pages 5-30.
    3. Antonelli Cristiano, 2012. "Compulsory licensing: the foundations of an institutional innovation," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201207, University of Turin.
    4. Eric W. Bond & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "Bargaining over Entry with a Compulsory License Deadline: Price Spillovers and Surplus Expansion," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 20, pages 449-480, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Rockett, Katharine, 2010. "Property Rights and Invention," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 315-380, Elsevier.
    6. Baten, Joerg & Bianchi, Nicola & Moser, Petra, 2017. "Compulsory licensing and innovation – Historical evidence from German patents after WWI," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 231-242.
    7. Nancy Gallini, 2017. "Do patents work? Thickets, trolls and antibiotic resistance," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(4), pages 893-926, November.
    8. Kamal Saggi, 2016. "Trade, Intellectual Property Rights, and the World Trade Organization," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 16-00014, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    9. Rajeev K. Goel & Shoji Haruna, 2021. "Unmasking the demand for masks: Analytics of mandating coronavirus masks," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 580-591, July.
    10. Choi, Jay Pil & Gerlach, Heiko, 2019. "Optimal cross-licensing arrangements: Collusion versus entry deterrence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    11. repec:osf:socarx:qzmf8_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Schankerman, Mark & Schuett, Florian, 2016. "Screening for Patent Quality," CEPR Discussion Papers 11688, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Jiayuan Zhou & Yunxia Li & Bo Li, 2022. "Restructure or Misallocation? Enterprises’ Carbon Emission Intensity under Market Integration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Iain M. Cockburn & Megan J. MacGarvie, 2011. "Entry and Patenting in the Software Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(5), pages 915-933, May.
    15. Liotard, Isabelle & Revest, Valérie, 2018. "Contests as innovation policy instruments: Lessons from the US federal agencies' experience," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 57-69.
    16. Dolfsma, W.A., 2006. "IPRs, Technological Development, and Economic Development," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2006-004-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    17. Fan, Xiaomin & Xu, Yingzhi, 2023. "Does high-speed railway promote urban innovation? Evidence from China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Gnekpe, Christian & Jimenez, Alfredo, 2023. "Smoke signal: When firms' patent strategy and local patent protection system affect equity stakes in cross-border acquisitions," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(6).
    19. Li, Jie & Guo, Xiaowei & Huang, Bihong & Zhou, Tianhang, 2024. "Political connections and zombie firms: The role of the 2008 stimulus plan in China," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    20. Marek Jemala & Ľubomír Jemala, 2015. "How Are Technologies Patented in Developed and Developing Countries of EU? [Ako sú technológie patentované v rozvinutých a rozvíjajúcich sa krajinách európskej únie?]," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(1), pages 27-44.
    21. Josh Lerner, 2002. "150 Years of Patent Protection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 221-225, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:plo:pgph00:0000683. 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: globalpubhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth .

    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.