Access to Medicine in the Global Economy

"In recent years, scholars and policymakers have questioned whether patent law facilitates or impedes global access to medicines. To understand these debates, one needs to be aware of the commercial and regulatory environment in which pharmaceutical products are currently brought to market, and the international legal framework that determines the policy choices available under national patent (and allied) laws to ensure access to drugs. These are very complex issues. However, Professor Ho has, without sacrificing nuance, written a book that manages to analyze these issues with tremendous clarity and that offers important insights into current controversies about access to medicines." GRAEME B. DINWOODIE, Professor of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law, University of Oxford "Cynthia Ho's Access to Medicine in the Global Economy offers both experts and novices a well-organized and highly readable survey that will make a real contribution to our understanding of the pressures on global public health providers under the TRIPS Agreement of 1994 and related Free Trade Agreements." JEROME H. REICHMAN, Bunyan S. Womble Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law "Cynthia Ho provides an illuminating and accessible understanding of one of the more contentious issues in intellectual property and public health. She walks readers through the many challenges patents pose to access to medicines, presenting competing perspectives as she thoughtfully analyzes and assesses the contemporary dynamics of international patent controversies. Very well-researched and clearly written, this terrifi c book deserves a wide readership." SUSAN K. SELL, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Director, Institute of Global and International Studies, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.