Access to Medicine vs. Patent Protection: A Global Dilemma Analysis

This report delves into the intricate issue of patent protection within the pharmaceutical industry, examining its impact on international trade and access to medicine, particularly in developing countries. The report begins by defining patent protection and its role in preventing the replication of inventions, emphasizing its connection to the TRIPS agreement and the balance it attempts to strike between protecting innovators' rights and ensuring access to essential medicines. It then explores the ethical dimensions of this dilemma, highlighting the financial constraints of developing countries and the need for affordable healthcare. The report uses India's patent system as a case study, contrasting its pre-2005 practices, which facilitated the production of affordable generic drugs, with its current TRIPS-compliant system. The author argues that while original researchers deserve recognition, ethical considerations prioritize making healthcare accessible to all, advocating for incentives for original companies to make their inventions available to others. The report concludes by emphasizing the moral imperative of prioritizing human life and the need for a balanced approach to patent protection that considers both the rights of pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare needs of all citizens. The report uses references to support arguments, including articles and research papers.

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Running Head: PATENT PROTECTION
The dilemma of Patent Protection
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PATENT PROTECTION
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
What should we do about this intellectual dilemma?.................................................................................3
Is it really a dilemma for US pharmaceutical companies?...........................................................................4
Ethical argument.........................................................................................................................................4

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PATENT PROTECTION
Introduction
Patent protection refers to the regulations set aside to prevent other parties from
commercially exploiting the parent company mostly used in pharmaceutical companies. These
regulations are put in place to ensure that inventions cannot be replicated by other parties or
imported to other countries without permission from the parent company (Bond, 2019). Patent
protection goes hand in hand with TRIPS. TRIPS is a legally binding agreement between
members of the World Trade Organization which sets the minimum standards for patent
protection in an attempt to bring balance between the patent protected countries and the access of
the product to patent ineligible parties (Beka, 2017).
What should we do about this intellectual
dilemma?
According to the article Thinking Things through, it is important to note the need for
drugs in developing countries against their financial capabilities. Most of the developing
countries are disease and poverty stricken which makes it impossible to access quality medical
care and the needed drugs, unlike the developed countries where medical care is available to
most of their citizens. Also we cannot deny the originality of drugs and the fight for recognition
by the parent companies (Liu, 2015).
Healthcare in developed countries is very expensive and majority of the developing
countries cannot sustain the health needs of their citizens if the cost of production is to
standardized in the whole world. TRIPS bridges the gap of financial incapability’s of its

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PATENT PROTECTION
developing member countries and the developed countries by ensuring the availability of medical
care to all citizens and respect to the company of origin.
In order to end this intellectual dilemma, the developing countries should be
encouraged to pull up their socks in order to meet the current world standards. Grants and
scholarships should be set aside to encourage pharmaceutical research in most of the developing
countries. The company of origin can also be incentivized to avail its inventions to others (Song,
2016).
Is it really a dilemma for US
pharmaceutical companies?
Yes, it is a dilemma. Just as the original researcher deserves recognition for his/her work,
company of origin deserve that recognition too. In as much as pharmaceutical companies in the
US benefit from health insurance production of some drug formulation is very expensive in
terms of time and money. It is morally right for every country to fight for recognition and full
rights to its inventions. Remember all countries have problems of their own and competitors to
compete with. In my opinion every country should have the final say in its inventions and
regulate its usage.
Ethical argument
Human life is more precious compared to anything else. Protecting a certain
countries pharmaceutical companies at the expense of other human being is morally wrong.
Humans have different purposes in life each of which makes the world a better place for the next
generation. Health care and provision of drugs should be made available to all human beings be
it in its generic form or its original version as long its mode of action is the same and it does not
cause any harm whatsoever.

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References
Beka, E. (2017, January 9). Patent Law and the Pharmaceutical Industry. Thessaloniki -Greece:
https://repository.ihu.edu.gr/xmlui/handle/11544/15221.
Bond, E. W. (2019, march 9). Patent protection in developing countries and global welfare: WTO
obligations versus flexibilities. Department of Economics, pp. 1-3.
Liu, M. &. (2015). A cross-country index of intellectual property rights in pharmaceutical inventions.
Research policy, 44(1), 206-216.
Song, C. H. (2016). Patent cliff and strategic switch: exploring strategic design possibilities in the
pharmaceutical industry. SpringerPlus, 5(1), 692.