A History of Access to Medicine Through the Lens of Patent Perspectives

This chapter provides a broader view of the development of international laws impacting the protection of drugs from the lens of patents as either a privilege or a right. In particular, this chapter demonstrates how domestic and international laws and policies impacting access to medicine is a dynamic process in which competing patent perspectives (as well as their confluence) play an important role. Whereas patent-owning companies are usually considered to dominate conversations, this chapter shows that access to medicine proponents have also utilized tools such as forum shifting and other political pressures to pursue their agenda