Do intellectual property rights interfere with poor peoples access to needed drugs?
Critics of the intellectual property system have argued that poor people across the world are denied access to life-saving pharmaceutical products due to patent protection. The World Health Organization (WHO) publishes a list of 308 essential drugs for the treatment of human disease. Of the 308 drugs on the list, only five percent (5%) are patented in any jurisdiction. Most of these drugs were patented at the time of their discovery, but their patents have long since expired and they are now in the public domain. The inability to end malaria and tuberculosis, which are treated mostly with drugs that are no longer under patent, is an example that demonstrates that patents play a minimal role in the global market for essential drugs. Yet, the WHO estimates that at least one-third (33%) of all patients globally lack access to medications on the essential drug list.
