A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PATENT LAW FRAMEWORKS FOR BALANCING PRIVATE INNOVATION AND PUBLIC INTEREST IN GLOBAL HEALTH

• Abdurakhimova Solikha

  Civil Law and Private International Law Department World Economy and Diplomacy University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

  Author

With regard to global health, this article critically assesses the balance between private innovation incentives and public interests that are contemplated by current patent law frameworks in the United States, Europe and India. To encourage pharmaceutical research and development, patent systems need to be in place but too often result in high drug prices and in the absence of essential medicines in relatively poor countries. Using an economic notion, we explore the economic reason of giving patent protections, how to increase the accessibility during a global health crisis – e.g. the pandemic for COVID-19 – and how legal mechanisms such as compulsory licensing, patent pools and anti-evergreening provisions can increase the access. Through its Patents Act and judicial decisions, the article reveals that India’s approach is more pro public when compared to US and EU. The final part of the article states that current patent regimes are favorable to private interests and that change along the path towards equitable access, particularly during a health emergency, is possible through stronger international cooperation as well as through the strategic adoption of legal reforms.

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