IMPORTANCE OF PARALLEL IMPORTATION OF PATENTED MEDICINES DUE TO ONGOING COVID-19 CRISIS
Rakshita Singh & Nivedita Singh, Army Law College, Pune
ABSTRACT
The second wave of Covid-191 has brought about havoc in the healthcare system. The shortage of medicines such as Remdesivir2 has resulted in the denial of proper medical treatment to numerous patients. Medicines are patented due to the intellectual efforts, research, and labor of the R&D department of a company. However, in the current public health crisis, should monopoly rights that cover every aspect of Covid-19 response from vaccines to medicines be given priority over public policy? Granting compulsory licenses to other manufacturers is another way to go about it, but this would prolong the pandemic as it takes time to introduce fresh stock to the market and the requirement is immediate. This article deals with two crucial questions, how parallel importation of patented medicines is an immediate solution to the current crisis and how our Patents Act, 19703 is robust enough to deal with it.
Keywords: Remdesivir, Covid-19, Compulsory License, Monopoly Rights, Public Policy, Parallel Importation, Patents Act.
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