Patenting Health: How Intellectual Property Rights Jeopardise Medical Research

Authors

Lorenz N. Soukup, Bates CollegeFollow

Abstract

Recent health crises have taught us that proper resource allocation is an important tool in the fight against e.g., pandemics and endemics. This concerns medical care on the one side, but also medical research as a precursor and catalyst for successful implementation of interventions, on the other side. James R. Brown argues that the most effective way to make use of medical research is to make the funding a public affair, removing private stakeholders from the equation. Concretely, he proposes to remove intellectual property rights in medicine as a whole. This paper evaluates his thesis.

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Recommended Citation

Soukup, Lorenz N. (2025) "Patenting Health: How Intellectual Property Rights Jeopardise Medical Research," Bates College Journal of Political Studies: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://scarab.bates.edu/bjps/vol2/iss1/8