• Aust Health Rev · Nov 2004

    Patents, pills and politics: the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

    • Ken Harvey.
    • School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia. k.harvey@latrobe.edu.au
    • Aust Health Rev. 2004 Nov 8;28(2):218-26.

    AbstractThere is tension between the need of the pharmaceutical innovator for intellectual property protection and the need of society for equitable and affordable access to innovative drugs. The recent Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement provides a nice illustration of this interplay between patents, pills and politics. This article provides a brief history of patent law as applied to pharmaceuticals, describes how the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme got caught up in AUSFTA negotiations, analyses the clauses that are likely to impact upon the PBS and describes the political process that reviewed and ultimately amended the AUSFTA.

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