Interface Between Human Rights and Intellectual Property Rights with Special Reference to Patent Regime and Right to Health in India

Abstract

Human Rights are the pioneer of all rights and it has been neglected until the establishment of the United Nations (UN) in 1945. The United Nations have recognized the Right to Health in various international conventions, including the right to access essential medicines as a human right, but still many people living in developing countries are denied access to essential medicines due to the heavy cost of patented medicines. In the year 2000, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) adopted General Comment No.14 to define Article 12 of the International Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), it provides that four essential components are very important for access to medicine i.e. availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality. On the other hand, the developed nations are using the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions as per their advantage which in turn affects human rights in developing countries like, India. There is a debate between the Right to Health and the patent regime in India. In the light of the above statements, the author tries to examine the existing issues and challenges with respect to the interface between human rights and intellectual property rights with special reference to protections of Right to Health and pharmaceutical patents.