Publication
Intellectual Property, COVID-19 and the Next Pandemic Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures
Page
243
Year
2024
Abstract
This chapter proposes an ex ante approach to tackling drug scarcity. Entities funding pandemic- and epidemic-related research should contractually require recipients to produce sufficient quantities of resulting medicines. The recipient would agree in the event of a future shortage to share its technology and know-how with a qualified third-party manufacturer, in exchange for compensation. Alternatively, funding entities could more broadly utilize dormant licenses, which activate in the event of a pandemic or epidemic, and which require rights holders to license out technology and know-how to alleviate shortages. Such provisions could go even further, integrating reasonable pricing assurances and ensuring access in low-income countries. By tying funding to such rights, governments and nongovernmental organizations could help reduce shortages, improve global access to medicines, and ultimately save lives.
Recommended Citation
Sapna Kumar, Planning for Pandemic and Epidemic-Related Scarcity of Medicines, 243 (2024), available at https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/faculty_articles/1100.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
