Excerpts from the PRAGMA Virtual week conference: Vaccines and IP: The Way Forward by Carolina Vera

“Historically, IP and vaccines have been inextricably intertwined, especially in the area of patents. It is a fact that patents granted to inventors have constituted the basis of technological advancement in a variety of scientific fields.

With regard to the pharmaceutical sector, such technological advancement has enabled the development of new products in order to improve the health, quality of life and life expectancy.

Nevertheless, it is worth discussing the ethical issue which arises when patents obstruct millions of people’s access to curative medicine or to a vaccine which can save lives as well as the obligation that all states have to preserve the lives of their citizens.*”

More info: https://congress.pragma.international/