A Question under TRIPS
When TRIPS came into effect, many member states had to change their intellectual property laws. Additionally, any states joining the WTO had to comply with TRIPS, which prompted many other countries to change their intellectual property laws. Most developing countries were given a longer time period to come into compliance with TRIPS than was required for developed countries, but for many developing countries that time period has recently ended. One of these countries is India. India’s previous patent laws covered a manufacturing method, rather than the finished product, so Indian companies were taking patented products, making them a different way, and selling them as generics. This legal treatment was a major problem for pharmaceutical companies. India sold huge numbers of generic pharmaceuticals in Africa, primarily HIV/AIDS medications, denying the pharmaceutical companies their royalties. It is very important for patents for HIV/AIDS medication to be upheld. Although it might at first seem unfair to charge more than a generic company would for a medication, it is crucial to realize that the generic company did not have to invest in the research and development of the drug. Although the drug may not cost as much as the name-brand price to produce, the esearch and development, clinical trials, and salaries of everyone involved in the process of creating new medication must be accounted for in the price of the medication. What is really unfair is allowing a generic company to take advantage of the hard work done by the original company. Perhaps more importantly, patents provide incentive for pharmaceutical companies to continue to create new and better drugs. With the expansion of HIV/AIDS and the tolerance that patients build up to drugs, it is necessary for pharmaceutical companies to come up with new treatments. Without the incentive from patents, innovation would slow, a result more detrimental to the treatment of HIV/AIDS than paying the true cost for medications. Enforcing patents on HIV/AIDS drugs fairly reimburses the pharmaceutical companies for their work in research and development and helps patients by ensuring innovations in the form of new medications.
1. What are the issues and conclusion of this essay?
2. What ethical norms drive the author’s reasoning?
3. Ask and answer the critical thinking question that you believe reveals the main problem with the author’s reasoning.
4. Write an essay about this issue with a different conclusion. Clue: What alternate definitions of the primary ethical norm might change the conclusion?