How Can Lower-Income Countries Access COVID-19 Medicines Without Destroying the Patent System? The National Exhaustion Solution10.56042/jipr.v27i3.57951

Many scholars argued that improving access to medicine requires major amendments to the patent system, which is structured according to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. This article argues that the argument is not necessarily true. Amending Article 6 of the TRIPS Agreement to adopt a national exhaustion rule for pharmaceutical patents would be sufficient to achieve a considerable improvement in access to medicine while simultaneously strengthening patent protection. This proposal encourages the pharmaceutical industry to adopt a price discrimination policy whereby Pharma would lower medicine prices in the lower-income countries. Accordingly, global access to new medicines such as COVID-19 medicines could be increased as these countries have the majority of poor people. At the same time, Pharma can continue to sell the same medicine in higher-income countries at higher prices, generating sufficient profits to incentivize research and development. © 2022, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources. All rights reserved.