COMPULSORY LICENCING AND ACCESS TO MEDICINE

At the time of the global pandemic, nations around the globe understood that a nation’s true development is based on how well its healthcare sector performs or how well the distribution of access to medicine takes place. Big pharma companies produce patented, good-quality drugs, but the accessibility of these drugs is very limited, especially in the developing and least developing countries. Due to the patentability of medicines, the drug manufacturers will have an exclusive right over the product. Therefore, the cost of medicine in LDC(least developed countries) and DC(Developing countries) is too high. As an exception to this, a compulsory licence has been introduced. It basically allows the use of patented drugs or medicines to produce, use and sell even without the consent of the patentee or the inventor of the particular drug. Compulsory licensing could have a positive and a negative impact on society. The reason is that CL does help the LDC and DC with access to medicine in emergencies. On the other hand, the inventor’s IPR right will be jeopardised. The CL will take away all the IPR protection under the patent law. This paper focuses on how CL plays a vital role in access to medicine, particularly in developing countries and also looks into how the CL addresses public health concerns.