Access to Medicine in the Global Economy: International Agreements on Patents and Related Rights

by Cynthia Ho

Overview

Access to medicine is a topic of widespread interest. However, some issues that impact such access are presently inadequately understood. In particular, international laws require most nations to provide patents on drugs, resulting in premium prices that limit access. In Access to Medicine in the Global Economy, Professor Cynthia Ho explains such laws and their impact for a diverse group of readers, from scholars and policy makers to students in a variety of disciplines.

This book explains and interprets important international agreements, beginning with the landmark Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), but also including more recent free trade agreements and the pending Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Professor Ho addresses controversial topics, such as when a nation can provide a compulsory license, as well as whether a nation may suspend in-transit generic goods. The book also discusses how patent-like rights (such as "data exclusivity") prevent lower-cost generic medicines from entering into the marketplace and provides strategies for minimizing the harm of such rights. Clear explanations and diagrams, frequently asked questions, and case studies make these topics accessible to any reader. The case studies also provide a theory of patent perspectives that helps explain why access to medicine, though a universal goal, remains elusive in practice. The book aims to provide an important first step toward eventual workable solutions by promoting a better understanding of existing and future laws that impact access to medicine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195390124
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/05/2011
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Cynthia M. Ho is the Clifford E. Vickrey Research Professor of Law and the Director of the Intellectual Property Program at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Professor Ho is an expert in patent law and policy, especially the intersection between patent and health issues. She has authored law reviews and book chapters on these issues, and her work has been cited in scholarly publications, textbooks, and international reports. She is the author of Q&A: Patent Law (Lexis 2008) as well as several interactive patent lessons for the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Education, available at www.cali.org. Prior to joining the Loyola law faculty, Professor Ho was a patent lawyer at Fish & Neave, an intellectual property boutique law firm (now the Fish & Neave IP group of Ropes & Gray). She is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Table of Contents

I. Background

1. From Conception to Commercial Success

2. A Limitation on the Patent Right to Exclude "Parallel Imports": An Introduction to International Exhaustion

II. The Current Framework

3. An Introduction to TRIPS

4. Freedom Under TRIPS: India as an Example

5. Compulsory Licensing Under TRIPS: An Introduction

6. Compulsory License Case Study: An Introduction to Competing Patent Perspectives

7. Complicated Compulsory Licenses: The Waiver/Article 31bis "Solution"

III. The Evolving Framework

8. An Overview of "TRIPS-Plus" Standards

9. Beyond Patents: Protecting Drugs Through Regulatory Laws

10. Suspensions of In Transit Generic Drugs: A Case Study of Competing Perspectives

11. A Historical View of Access to Medicine Through the Lens of Patent Perspectives

12. Looking Towards the Future

Editorial Reviews

"In recent years, scholars and policymakers have questioned whether patent law facilitates or impedes global access to medicines. To understand these debates, one needs to be aware of the commercial and regulatory environment in which pharmaceutical products are currently brought to market, and the international legal framework that determines the policy choices available under national patent (and allied) laws to ensure access to drugs. These are very complex issues. However, Professor Ho has, without sacrificing nuance, written a book that manages to analyze these issues with tremendous clarity and that offers important insights into current controversies about access to medicines."
GRAEME B. DINWOODIE,
Professor of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law, University of Oxford

"Cynthia Ho's Access to Medicine in the Global Economy offers both experts and novices a well-organized and highly readable survey that will make a real contribution to our understanding of the pressures on global public health providers under the TRIPS Agreement of 1994 and related Free Trade Agreements."
JEROME H. REICHMAN,
Bunyan S. Womble Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law

"Cynthia Ho provides an illuminating and accessible understanding of one of the more contentious issues in intellectual property and public health. She walks readers through the many challenges patents pose to access to medicines, presenting competing perspectives as she thoughtfully analyzes and assesses the contemporary dynamics of international patent controversies. Very well-researched and clearly written, this terrifi c book deserves a wide readership."
SUSAN K. SELL, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Director, Institute of Global and International Studies, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

From the Publisher