Intellectual Property Rights

Pharmaceuticals have brought immense health benefits to developing countries, but one third of the world's population does not have access to existing essential drugs. The Commission on Health Research for Development (1990) showed that less than 10 per cent of global health research is directed towards diseases that afflict 90% of the world's population. IPRs in pharmaceuticals have two principal areas of impact which affect public health. First, there is the issue of access, where discussion focuses on the links between IPRs, exclusion of competitors and the availability and pricing of new medicines. Second, there is the issue of incentive innovation, where discussion focuses on the role of IPRs in motivating R&D and marketing of new drugs and the effect of IPRs on R&D expenditure and its allocation across diseases, countries and organizations.