Measures which slashed patented HIV drug prices needed to ensure access to new essential meds, author says

The author of a new book believes that governments must employ the same approaches to intellectual property (IP) that were used to improve affordable access to anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS when it comes to new essential medicines.

Lawyer and public health advocate Ellen ’t Hoen has written Private Patents and Public Health: Changing Intellectual Property Rules for Access to Medicines, a book released by the non-governmental organization Health Action International.

The IP expert's book chronicles parallel developments in global public health and international patent laws. It warns that strict patent regimes are creating pharmaceutical monopolies that keep medicine prices – particularly for new hepatitis C, cancer and tuberculosis medicines – beyond reach for patients in all countries, rich and poor.