The unravelling of compulsory licenses: evidence from Thailand and India

Authors:

Jeremiah Norris

Publication date:

Friday, May 18, 2007

Teaser:

Many factors affect access to medicines in developing countries, but the global debate has focused on intellectual property.

India's Union minister of health has recently threatened Novartis with a compulsory license for its cancer therapy Glivec. The reality is that factors other than IP are more important in determining access to medicines, such as health infrastructure and government mark-ups on imported drugs.

Meanwhile, the manufacture of experimental copy drugs in India and Thailand is very likely contributing to worsening drug resistance amongst AIDS patients, which will lead to major economic and health problems.