Access To Medicine In The Context Of Patent Monopoly

Abstract

In the light of growing concerns regarding access to medicines and the distress about the financial sustainability of the health care system in India, a robust drug policy is inevitable for availability, affordability and accessibility of drugs to people. While an increment in the financial spending on public health is the need of the hour, India needs drug procurement models at state level with strong regulatory system in place in order to monitor the checks and balances on the pharmaceutical companies. On the other hand, India has had tryst with the patent regime and the unaffordable medicine prices giving in to the pressure of the developed countries but today, the epidemic diseases in the country have turned out to be a huge economic burden on the country. It becomes imperative that India makes use of the flexibilities under TRIPS Agreement and grant Compulsory Licenses to the patented drugs thus, breaking the monopoly in the market. The study examines the issues of accessibility to medicines to identify the strength and gaps in policies and develop future strategies for policy framework that would enable an advanced health care ecosystem.