During the last two days, two interesting articles addressing accessibility of medical products and methods were published. While one article in 'The Hindu' spoke about capitalism and its inherent hurdles to access, another article written by Professor Arul Scaria in 'The Wire' argued against Niti Aayog's approach towards access to COVID vaccines and medicines. In his article, Professor Scaria specifically pointed out that Government's reluctance to use the compulsory licensing mechanism as a part of the COVID vaccine/medicine access scheme…
After intense negotiations between the United States and the Group of Least-Developed Countries, the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property rights finally decided to extend a waiver allowing LDCs from applying and enforcing IP rights on pharmaceutical products until 2033. The consensus among the World Trade Organisation (WTO) members over extension of waivers in respect of pharmaceutical patents for the least developed countries (LDCs) is being held as a major breakthrough in the world of pharmaceutical patents.
Following the…