Intellectual property rights and public health

Intellectual property rights can affect public health and access to medicines. Health professionals should therefore not leave this issue exclusively to legal experts and trade officials. This page puts together several background documents on intellectual property rights and public health, in order to help health professionals to get a grip on the terminology and workings of the intellectual property system.  

      How do intellectual property rights affect public health? What is the TRIPS Agreement? How does TRIPS affect access to medicines?

This section summarizes how intellectual property rights–notably patents–affect public health and access to medicines. It also explains the importance of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as TRIPS-compliant safeguards that can be used to protect access to medicines. More…

      How have countries used safeguards (such as compulsory licensing) to protect access to medicines?

This section provides a brief overview of countries’ experiences in using the safeguard mechanisms available in the TRIPS Agreement to protect public health and access to medicines. More…

      How can national intellectual property law be made to protect public health?

In this section, some of the key issues in national intellectual property laws that have implications for access to medicines are briefly summarized.  More … 

      What is “TRIPS-plus”? What is data exclusivity? How do they affect public health?

“TRIPS-plus” is an informal term for intellectual property protection that exceeds the requirements of the TRIPS Agreement. This section explains some of those “TRIPS-plus” provisions. It focuses on one particular provision–data exclusivity–which is particularly relevant, because it will have to be implemented by the health sector. More…

      It is sometimes said that intellectual property rights fail to stimulate innovation for treatment of diseases that mainly affect developing countries. Why is this said? Are there alternatives?

This section provides a brief introduction to recent thought and discussions on stimulating the development of new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics for diseases that are particularly prevalent in developing countries. More…