Academic patents and access to medicines in developing countries

Bhaven Sampat

American Journal of Public Health, 2009, vol. 99, issue 1, 9-17

Abstract: There is a widespread and growing concern that patents hinder access to life-saving drugs in developing countries. Recent student movements and legislative initiatives emphasize the potential role that research universities in developed countries could have in ameliorating this "access gap." These efforts are based on the assumption that universities own patents on a substantial number of drugs and that patents on these drugs are currently filed in developing countries. I provide empirical evidence regarding these issues and explore the feasibility and desirability of proposals to change university patenting and licensing practices to promote access to medicines in the developing world.

Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2007.128769

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2007.128769_8

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.128769

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().