In these Times has an interesting post about how the only know defense against Asian Bird Flu is Tamiflu that is patentend by Swiss manufacturer Roche. This apparently is preventing the US from embarking on a massive stockpiling exericse - they simply couldn't afford to - much like many African nations simply couldn't afford American patented antiviral drugs to protect against AIDS. How about that for getting some of your own back?
As the article points out, some nations are deciding to just do it (ignore patents) - especially those outside of the WTO like Taiwan. When Americans are drowning in their own blood because they chose to defend intellectual property rights over life they'll be the ones laughing all the way to the bank.
On this matter I have to say that significant investment to develop new drugs is one of those things I believe should be adequately rewarded - in the absence of government funded research to the same effect. But also defence of IPR for corporations is a privilege granted by the governments and society as a whole, therefore no IPR holder should expect to profiteer excessively from a monopoly, especially if they prove unable to produce sufficient quantities of the good they developed, or at fair market prices. In such cases they should forfeit their rights or be forced to license production to others. After all, lets face it, in the case of protecting against a global pandemic its in a company's best interests to keep as many consumers alive. Product demand for Roche's Tamiful will drop off rapidly if 50% of the planet is dead within a few months...
No comments:
Post a Comment