Drug resistance, patent resistance: Indian pharmaceuticals and the impact of a new patent regime
- PMID: 19548158
- DOI: 10.1080/17441690902796449
Drug resistance, patent resistance: Indian pharmaceuticals and the impact of a new patent regime
Abstract
This article highlights potential public health effects of India's Patents Act of 2005, which was implemented to conform to the requirements of the World Trade Organisation's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Agreement (TRIPS), a new legal regime that will likely have a significant impact on access to HIV/AIDS medications in much of the world. This new patent law may play a role in keeping new antiretroviral (ARV) medications, including improved first-line medications and second-line drugs that are being developed for first-line drug resistant HIV, financially out of reach for many people living with HIV/AIDS in poor countries. India's drug industry, which had thrived under earlier patent laws that protected processes but not products in the case of medications, had brought down the price of ARV drugs in South Asia and Africa by more than 90%. While most existing drugs are grandfathered under the new patent laws, newer ARV medications may be barred from manufacture by Indian companies. This article analyses the effects of the coming together of this new legal regime, the global political economy and emerging resistance to HIV/AIDS medications, and evaluates efforts to mitigate the negative public health effects of the new patent laws.
Similar articles
-
Essential AIDS medications in India.Issues Med Ethics. 2000 Apr-Jun;8(2):62. Issues Med Ethics. 2000. PMID: 16323350 No abstract available.
-
A one-time-only combination: Emergency medicine exports and the TRIPS agreement under Canada's access to medicines regime.Health Hum Rights. 2010 Jun 15;12(1):109-22. Health Hum Rights. 2010. PMID: 20930258
-
Has the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean produced intellectual property legislation that favours public health?Bull World Health Organ. 2004 Nov;82(11):815-21. Epub 2004 Dec 14. Bull World Health Organ. 2004. PMID: 15640916 Free PMC article.
-
A survey of the syntheses of active pharmaceutical ingredients for antiretroviral drug combinations critical to access in emerging nations.Antiviral Res. 2008 Sep;79(3):143-65. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2008.05.001. Epub 2008 Jun 2. Antiviral Res. 2008. PMID: 18571246 Review.
-
Soaring antiretroviral prices, TRIPS and TRIPS flexibilities: a burning issue for antiretroviral treatment scale-up in developing countries.Curr Opin HIV AIDS. 2010 May;5(3):237-41. doi: 10.1097/COH.0b013e32833860ba. Curr Opin HIV AIDS. 2010. PMID: 20539080 Review.
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical
