Should Access to Medicines And TRIPS Flexibilities Be Limited to Specific Diseases?
Kevin Outterson
Boston University School of Law Working Paper 08-06
Abstract
From the perspective of public health, limiting access programs and TRIPS
flexibilities to particular diseases would be quite dangerous and unnecessary. Dangerous because the diseases of the world¹s rich and poor countries are converging, including non-communicative diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and depression. Radically cheaper medicines for these conditions could significantly improve health in LMICs. Limitation is also unnecessary because proven tools can be deployed to preserve high-income markets while LMICs pursue equitable flexibilities.
To date, the important global legal texts retain broad application to all relevant diseases, but the some parties continue to propose disease-specific limitations, most recently in the World Health Organization¹s Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (the "WHO IGWG"). The WHO IGWG¹s task is to distill the WHO CIPIH Report into a global strategy and plan of action. This article hopes to influence the final text of the IGWG Global Strategy, finding that disease-specific limitations on access programs and TRIPS flexibilities are inappropriate in markets for medicines, but disease-specific programs are important in markets for neglected disease innovation.
Keywords: The WHO IGWG, the WHO CIPIH, World Health Organization" Commission on Innovation, Intellectual Property and Public Health; Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), TRIPS flexibilities
JEL Classifications: I11, I18, K29, O34
SSRN Accepted Paper Series
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Suggested Citation:
Kevin Outterson, "Should Access To Medicines And TRIPS flexibilities Be Limited to Specific Diseases?," forthcoming American Journal of Law & Medicine.
Kevin Outterson Contact Information
Boston University School of Law
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