Intellectual Property Regime and Developing Country Health Concerns

Abstract

Intellectual property, especially patents, are considered to be incentives for innovation and thereby expected to benefit society by making the products of innovation available to the society. However, the developing country experience shows that such incentives focus on the market demand rather than the need of the society and this is more conspicuous in the health related innovation. This prompts one to think about alternatives to intellectual property based incentives in addressing the health concerns of developing countries.