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Intellectual Property and the Availability of Pharmaceuticals in Poor Countries

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  • Jean O. Lanjouw

    (Center for Global Development)

Abstract

There continues to be widespread criticism of the extension of patent rights on pharmaceuticals in the developing world as required by World Trade Organization membership. This paper examines arguments in favor and against this strengthening of worldwide patent protection. It emphasizes that these new pharmaceutical patents promise benefits and costs that differ with the characteristics of diseases. Some diseases primarily affect poor countries. For these diseases, patents will not be sufficient to attract substantial private investment because purchasing power is low. However, globally available and well-defined patent rights could increase the benefits derived from greater public financing of research on pharmaceutical products for the developing world. For major global diseases the justification for extending patents in poorer countries is less clear. Thus the optimal global framework for pharmaceutical patents might require differentiating the protection given to products in accordance with their extremely different global markets. The paper considers standard intellectual property and regulatory mechanisms that could be used to differentiate protection. All have serious drawbacks. It then describes a new mechanism that would make differentiating protection a more feasible policy option.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean O. Lanjouw, 2002. "Intellectual Property and the Availability of Pharmaceuticals in Poor Countries," Working Papers 5, Center for Global Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgd:wpaper:5
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    Cited by:

    1. Padmashree Gehl Sampath, 2010. "Economic Aspects of Access to Medicines after 2005: Product Patent Protection and Emerging Firm Strategies in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry," Working Papers id:3336, eSocialSciences.
    2. Margaret K. Kyle & Anita M. McGahan, 2012. "Investments in Pharmaceuticals Before and After TRIPS," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(4), pages 1157-1172, November.
    3. Fonseca, Elize Massard da & Shadlen, Kenneth C. & Achcar, Helena de Moraes, 2023. "Vaccine technology transfer in a global health crisis: Actors, capabilities, and institutions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(4).
    4. Scherer, F.M., 2010. "Pharmaceutical Innovation," 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 539-574, Elsevier.
    5. Penin, Julien, 2005. "Patents versus ex post rewards: A new look," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 641-656, June.
    6. Saradindu Bhaduri & Thomas Brenner, 2011. "Determinants of drug launch delay in pre-TRIPS India: A survival analysis approach," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2011-05, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    7. Ghauri, Pervez N. & Rao, P.M., 2009. "Intellectual property, pharmaceutical MNEs and the developing world," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 206-215, April.
    8. Wright, Brian D. & Pardey, Philip G. & Nottenburg, Carol & Koo, Bonwoo, 2007. "Agricultural Innovation: Investments and Incentives," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 48, pages 2533-2603, Elsevier.
    9. Scherer, F. M., 2007. "Pharmaceutical Innovation," Working Paper Series rwp07-004, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    10. Yaqub, Ohid & Nightingale, Paul, 2012. "Vaccine innovation, translational research and the management of knowledge accumulation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2143-2150.
    11. Gehl Sampath, Padmashree, 2003. "Designing National Regimes that Promote Public Health Objectives," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2003-08, United Nations University - INTECH.
    12. Jean O. Lanjouw, 2004. "Propriété intellectuelle et développement ou comment imposer au monde un système perverti : commentaires," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 12(3), pages 145-153.
    13. Cuntz, Alexander & Mueller-Langer, Frank & Muscarnera, Alessio & Oguguo, Prince C. & Scheufen, Marc, 2025. "Access to science and innovation in the developing world," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    14. Veronika Fenyves & Balazs Nyul & Krisztina Dajnoki & Zoltan Bacs & Gergo Tomori, 2019. "Profitability of Pharmaceutical Companies in the Visegrád Countries," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 15(4), pages 99-111.
    15. Liping Fu & Shan Zhang & Fan Wu, 2022. "The Impact of Compensation Gap on Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China’s Pharmaceutical Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-14, February.
    16. Senra de Morais, Rafael Pinho, 2017. "Compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals by the developing south," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 74-77.
    17. Saradindu Bhaduri & Thomas Brenner, 2013. "Examining the determinants of drug launch delay in pre-TRIPS India," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(5), pages 761-773, October.
    18. Lubomira Radoilska, 2008. "Truthfulness and Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 21-28, April.
    19. Yaqub, Ohid, 2017. "Testing regimes in clinical trials: Evidence from four polio vaccine trajectories," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 475-484.

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