There are some important reasons why low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may choose to make greater use of competition law and policy to reduce the cost of treatment. First, multilateral trade rules allow substantial flexibility in the development and application of competition law and...

In the decade since the Doha Declaration was adopted, significant progress has been made in addressing problems associated with innovation and access to medicines, including through expanded financial support for procurement and distribution of treatments and vaccines and the establishment of...

UNDP first drew attention to the utility of competition law in health care as a tool to facilitate and promote access to health technologies in 2014. It published ‘Using Competition Law to Promote Access to Health Technologies: A guidebook for low- and middle-income countries’ (the...

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...

Annual worldwide spending on medicines is anticipated to exceed $1.2 trillion by 2016. Developing countries, and particularly so-called emerging markets, will account for a substantial portion of the growth in spending on medicines. A good part of global market demand will be satisfied by...

There are inadequate consumer protections from harmful medical billing practices that result in unavoidable, unexpected, and often financially devastating medical bills. The problem stems from increasing cost shifting to patients underway in American health care and the inordinate complexity...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) intends to take American health care in a new direction by focusing on preventive medicine and wellness-based treatment. But, in doing so, it does not adequately take into account the potential contribution of complementary and alternative...

La versione italiana di questo documento è disponibile all'indirizzo: 'http://ssrn.com/abstract=2481592' http://ssrn.com/abstract=2481592La versión en español de este artículo está disponible en: 'http://ssrn.com/abstract=2439008' http://ssrn.com/abstract=2439008A versão em português...

A versão em português deste texto está disponível em: "http://ssrn.com/abstract=2441607" http://ssrn.com/abstract=2441607 La versione italiana di questo documento è disponibile all'indirizzo: "http://ssrn.com/abstract=2607031" http://ssrn.com/abstract=2607031La versión en español de este...

On August 30, 2003, the member countries of the WTO adopted the Decision on Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. This Decision provides flexibility for the export of pharmaceutical products under compulsory license (which flexibility...