ATP · Access to Pharmaceuticals

Access to Pharmaceuticals Equitable access to pharmaceuticals, particularly for developing countries is an essential human right. Various complex impediments hinder access, which is the subject of ongoing multidisciplinary studies. Intellectual Property and product development are two issues that can be used as tools to address the problem of access, particularly to make patented drugs more affordable and accessible. This proposal addresses three ways of accomplishing this. The first is how academic licensing practices under socially responsible stewardship can ensure that future drugs that have resulted from inventive activity in academia will be available at low cost with improved access in the future. Secondly we will research thoroughly how existing public-private or product-development partnerships are addressing the issue of altruistic development of drugs for relatively neglected populations with unmet health needs and the lessons they have for future drug development. Lastly it addresses the current state and future improvements in compulsory licensing legislative instruments to enable access through generic manufacture of patented drugs. The three routes to access have several significant aspects of overlap which provide for complementary approaches and solutions to access.