More students are pushing universities to make medicines more available to people in the world’s poorest countries. An article in the new issue of the Journal of International Affairs examines “humanitarian licensing.”
The movement argues that universities that own the rights to medicines they develop should ensure they are available to people in need, according to Journal contributing author Bhaven N. Sampat.
In one instance, Yale University yielded to pressure from student activists and compelled the license-holder of an HIV treatment to allow generic competition in South Africa—making the drug available at a fraction of its former cost.
“This drop in price instantly meant that many more HIV patients in South Africa were able to afford the drug and proved that a change in university licensing practices could, in fact, save lives,” Sampat writes.
An increasing number of universities are committing to promote global access to medical technologies through the use of their intellectual property rights, but more action may be needed by Congress, the National Institutes of Health or other major funders to ensure that public research supports humanitarian goals, Sampat argues.
More than a dozen leading thinkers on technology and global poverty contributed to the Journal’s Fall/Winter 2010 issue, “Innovating for Development.” Other topics include climate change adaptation, attempts to distribute low-cost computers and the environmental impact of nuclear power.
The Journal of International Affairs has been published since 1947 by students at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Each issue brings together a diverse group of scholars and practitioners to debate a topic of global concern.
Past contributors have included Hannah Arendt, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Condoleezza Rice, Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, Francis Fukuyama and other leading thinkers in the field of international affairs.
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