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HIV/Aids patents war
The nature of the pharmaceutical business is such that it is a very expensive business; with research and marketing demanding vast amounts of money. As such, medicine which usually is intended to make us well typically ends up costing us an arm and a leg; pun intended.
The current patent system which oversees the copyright of drugs and medicines among other things is a boon not only to the pharmaceutical corporations but numerous other elements of society as well. Under the ideal circumstances, the patent system has the potential to create more social justice instead of advancing the gap between rich and poor, developed and undeveloped nation.
Many developed countries have chosen to exclude pharmaceutical products from eligibility for patents; instead preferring to only patent the manufacturing process of pharmaceutical goods. However under the WTO's TRIPPS agreement, drugs and medicine can be patented and the WTO freely forces this agreement on countries which otherwise do not acknowledge the patent of medical products.
This is excellent news for pharmaceutical companies as it greatly boosts their bottom lines, but it is terrible news for people living in developed countries who cannot afford expensive and often narrowly distributed drugs for life threatening illnesses like HIV/AIDS. Hundreds of thousands die every year from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; diseases and deaths which might be prevented if treatment were more widely available and affordable.
For example, in Brazil a pill used in HIV treatments can cost as much as $1.50 per pill while an identical pill in the United States might cost $0.49. Brazilians have already begun to break the patent by importing in cheap generic versions of that HIV treatment drugs which from 2007 to 2012 may save their country as much as $236.80.
There are the rights of the corporations to consider; it is their mission to make revenue and make money but there are far more pressing laws and rights to consider. Human rights should take precedence over any economic and social institution.
The United Nations Universal Human Rights declaration makes stipulations about patents. "Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests
Resulting from any scientific, literary, or artistic production of which he is the
author."
But it also makes provisions which supersede patent laws. "[Everyone has] the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community,
To enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits."
The entire point of patents is that it is meant to be fair. People ought to be entitled to obtain benefits from the things they create but not at the expense of the rest of society. The pharmaceutical companies have gone too far by denying the sick drugs essential to survival. It's gone from capitalism to extortion.
Corporations exist to make profit; that is all they are built to do. The people of any nation and the government of that nation are the ones who should be playing guard dog to the corporations; because when push comes to shove the idea of self-regulation is an oxymoron used by stooges of big business to allow market anarchy and robbery.
The nature of the pharmaceutical business is such that it is a very expensive business; with research and marketing demanding vast amounts of money. As such, medicine which usually is intended to make us well typically ends up costing us an arm and a leg; pun intended.
The current patent system which oversees the copyright of drugs and medicines among other things is a boon not only to the pharmaceutical corporations but numerous other elements of society as well. Under the ideal circumstances, the patent system has the potential to create more social justice instead of advancing the gap between rich and poor, developed and undeveloped nation.
Many developed countries have chosen to exclude pharmaceutical products from eligibility for patents; instead preferring to only patent the manufacturing process of pharmaceutical goods. However under the WTO's TRIPPS agreement, drugs and medicine can be patented and the WTO freely forces this agreement on countries which otherwise do not acknowledge the patent of medical products.
This is excellent news for pharmaceutical companies as it greatly boosts their bottom lines, but it is terrible news for people living in developed countries who cannot afford expensive and often narrowly distributed drugs for life threatening illnesses like HIV/AIDS. Hundreds of thousands die every year from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; diseases and deaths which might be prevented if treatment were more widely available and affordable.
For example, in Brazil a pill used in HIV treatments can cost as much as $1.50 per pill while an identical pill in the United States might cost $0.49. Brazilians have already begun to break the patent by importing in cheap generic versions of that HIV treatment drugs which from 2007 to 2012 may save their country as much as $236.80.
There are the rights of the corporations to consider; it is their mission to make revenue and make money but there are far more pressing laws and rights to consider. Human rights should take precedence over any economic and social institution.
The United Nations Universal Human Rights declaration makes stipulations about patents. "Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests
Resulting from any scientific, literary, or artistic production of which he is the
author."
But it also makes provisions which supersede patent laws. "[Everyone has] the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community,
To enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits."
The entire point of patents is that it is meant to be fair. People ought to be entitled to obtain benefits from the things they create but not at the expense of the rest of society. The pharmaceutical companies have gone too far by denying the sick drugs essential to survival. It's gone from capitalism to extortion.
Corporations exist to make profit; that is all they are built to do. The people of any nation and the government of that nation are the ones who should be playing guard dog to the corporations; because when push comes to shove the idea of self-regulation is an oxymoron used by stooges of big business to allow market anarchy and robbery.
I wrote this baby for Anthropology class. 
I think it did well, although it was only part of a group project.
I tell you though, my anthropology class, they're so boring that none of those students will ever be anthropologists.
I hope you enjoyed this
I think it did well, although it was only part of a group project. I tell you though, my anthropology class, they're so boring that none of those students will ever be anthropologists.
I hope you enjoyed this
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Comments11
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One of the few things my country's gouvernment did right is that it decided to break the patents on AIDS medicines (wich are distributed freely here).