Access to Life-Saving Medicines and Intellectual Property Rights: An Ethical Assessment

Abstract

Dying before one’s time has been a prominent theme in classic literature and poetry. Catherine Linton’s youthful death in Wuthering Heights leaves behind a bereft Heathcliff and generations of mourning readers. The author herself, Emily Brontë, died young from tuberculosis. John Keats’ Ode on Melancholy captures the transitory beauty of 19th century human lives too often ravished by early death. Keats also died of tuberculosis, aged 25. “The bloom, whose petals nipped before they blew, died on the promise of the fruit” is how Percy Bysshe Shelley expressed his grief over Keats’ death. Emily Dickinson wrote So Has a Daisy Vanished, being driven into depression by the early loss of loved ones from typhoid and tuberculosis.

Does the Pharmaceutical Sector Have a Coresponsibility for the Human Right to Health?

“…31 Pharmaceutical corporations cannot therefore argue that the human right to health and the natural right to intellectual property are of equal value. The latter must give way to the former when they are incompatible.…”

Gene Patents: A Broken Incentives System

“…According to John Locke, the right of ownership is a fundamental human right. Ownership rights, however, are defined differently in different countries, may clash with other natural rights like the right to life, and may even deprive others of the right to ownership (Schroeder & Singer 2011). These arguments suggest that ownership rights are not natural rights, and natural rights like the right to life should supersede intellectual property ownership, including gene patenting.…”

A Framework for Understanding Ethical and Efficiency Issues in Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Litigation

“…Schroeder and Singer (2011) contend that intellectual property protection must be balanced with the well-being of people. Furthermore, IPR ''…are not mandated to secure the natural rights of inventors to have their creations protected against the right to life of the poor (p.…”

“…Other arguments in favor of increased access and affordability include virtue theory principles related to not dying prematurely (Nussbaum 2001). It has been stated elsewhere that a duty is created by law, self-interest, benevolence, or a combination of the three (Schroeder and Singer 2011). In this paper, we focus upon duties created by law in the court.…”