Health
What kind of patent protection does India want?
The rejection of Bayer’s patent case in India is a landmark in defining the process by which patents are enforcable. It settles important questions on the limits of automatic patent protection provided by the system, providing a balance between private profit and public good.
Introducing Global Health Ideas.org
Health policy and practice continue to be key issues on the development agenda. A short introduction to Global Health Ideas – a blog that has been following changes in that agenda and now has a new home.
Swine Flu Exposes Limits of Google Trends
Google Flu Trends generated excitement on the possibilities of tracking and predicting disease outbreaks. But the swine flu outbreak illustrates key limitations of this methodology, and also areas where it could be enhanced.
Bargaining Through Compulsory Licensing: ARV Treatment in Brazil
The first study of its kind in Brazil on national drug spending illustrates how the threat of compulsory licensing can be an excellent bargaining tool to reducing patented drug costs.
WSJ to the WHO: In Defense of Patents
The Wall Street Journal defends patents, but disingenuously confuses the problems of high drug costs and poor delivery. Yet, the two issues are independent and require different approaches.
How Health Aid Undermines Health Systems
The FT is carrying a full page analysis on the impact that “vertically integrated” healthcare aid programs, such as for HIV/AIDS, have on public health systems in the developing world.
There are some startling statistics on just how much is being pumped into these fashionable diseases – HIV, malaria, and into vaccine research. For instance, in [...]
Tropical Virus Moves North as Europe Warms
BBC News reports that a “debilitating tropical virus carried by mosquitoes” is manifesting itself in the norther Italian town of Ravenna. The extent of the disease, is minor – only 160 cases thus far, and 1 death. The disease is known as chikungunya, is relatively rare, and usually found in the tropics. However, it seems to have [...]
Continuing Troubles with the Indian Patent Act: Is Novartis On Drugs?
The Hindu has an exceptional article on the recent Novartis case in India, titled “Do Indian Patent Laws Stifle Research?” that reveals the true story behind Novartis’ failure to secure a patent for its cancer drug, Gleevec. As it turns out, Novartis took a gamble by applying for the patent not in 1993 – when [...]
