Patents are not the problem
Patents are often blamed for most of the problems afflicting the health care system. In this article published in the Montreal Gazette, on 21 April 2008, I point out that " Patents are not the problem " . By focusing on patents rather than the wider ills that seriously affect healthcare service to the poor, we will not help improve the lot of the ordinary patients. Thailand's health minister recently announced that the nation's state-run drug manufacturer, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, would continue to violate the patents on four key cancer drugs. Health activists around the world applauded the move, apparently believing that intellectual property rights are an obstacle to bringing medicine to the world's poorest and sickest citizens. But drug patents and drug prices aren't the main obstacle to Third World patients seeking treatment. The truth is that even if medicine were completely free, most developing nations lack the infrastructure to de...