Intellectual property and essential medicines in the Covid-19 pandemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9902820 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thana Cristina De Campos (0000-0003-1019-3785, corresponding author), Thana C De Campos-Rudinsky |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 97 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 523-537 |
| Publication date | 2021-03-08 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ia/iiaa232 |
| OpenAlex | W3127194301 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Global justice theorists have widely discussed how the international intellectual property rights regime (i.e., the TRIPs regime of the World Trade Organization) makes it more difficult to achieve the goal of universal access to generic (and more affordable) vital COVID-19 treatments (including potential COVID-19 vaccines). This article argues that while patents can impose certain barriers to universal access to generic COVID-19 treatments, the TRIPs regime itself is an integral part of an equitable global solution to the pandemic. More specifically, it argues that article 31bis of the TRIPs, in allowing for a cooperation strategy predicated on complementary importing and exporting of vital COVID-19 generic treatments, is key for successful pandemic suppression. By providing a normative interpretative analysis of article 31bis in light of the ethical requirements of global justice, and by responding to possible objections to its core argument, this article substantiates the ideal of multilateral solidarity among nations. In times of crisis—not only a crisis of global public health, but also a crisis of multilateralism—this complementary cooperation strategy that article 31bis allows for shows a way forward in upholding the global common good that the international legal order seeks to safeguard
Argument (complex analysis · Business · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Economic Justice · Global health · Global justice · Health care · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Intellectual property · International trade · Law and economics · Multilateralism · Normative · Pandemic · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Solidarity · TRIPS architecture · Biomedical Ethics and Regulation · Intellectual Property and Patents · Law · Medicine · Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy
| Citations per year | 0.67 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |