Abstract

The paper explores the relationship between pharmaceutical patents and public health and how intellectual property laws influence access to essential medicines. Patents are crucial in encouraging innovation but can create monopolies that limit access to lifesaving medicine. This has been a great problem, especially in developing countries where high prices of drugs are an issue to the efforts done about public health. The paper critically analyses the global and Indian views on this issue. It discusses how drug patents, through the provision of exclusive rights, have the dual effect of incentivising research and development and creating barriers to access to essential medicines. Here, key global frameworks— the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration— are brought to the fore to balance intellectual property rights and public health imperatives. Within an Indian framework, this paper discusses legislative measures like compulsory licensing and recent development news of the Union Budget 2024 exempting three cancer drugs from customs duties- a positive sign of initiation to improve the approach towards critical treatments, which further signifies that flexible patent policies need to be framed looking at public health objectives. The paper concludes by making recommendations on how to change patent protection rules by reducing the duration and the scope of pharmaceutical patents and actively using compulsory licensing as a means to address the overpricing and access issues with current patent regimes, which in the end would make the health system more equitable. The paper argues for a balanced approach that supports innovation and public health by reassessing patent laws and including measures like exempting targeted customs duties.

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