Medicines should not be a luxury: why we need to re-think our approach to intellectual property rights to support public health

In recent decades the world has been rocked by a series of health emergencies, including the HIV/AIDS and COVID 19 pandemics and more recently the MPOX epidemic. 

Each episode has been characterised by deep – and often deadly - inequalities in terms of timely and affordable access to the necessary treatments and vaccines. Whilst many factors are at play, one of the main stumbling blocks to a fairer system has been the international intellectual property rights regime.  

Speakers at this DLD Conversation will share ideas about how to re-think the economics of medical innovation, strengthen medicines research and manufacturing capabilities in the global South and deliver a more equitable global public health system. 

About the Speakers 

• Els Torreele is an Independent Researcher and Advisor, and Founding Director æqua, a Think Space on Equity and Economic Justice for Health.  She has worked on issues relating to medical innovation and access to medicines with Médecins Sans Frontières, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, Open Society Foundations and University College London. 
• Nick Dearden is Director of Global Justice Now and author of Pharmanomics 
• Ha-Joon Chang is a Research Professor at SOAS University of London and Co-Director of Development Leadership Dialogue. He is the author of numerous books on economics, including his latest Edible Economics.