Jasmine Daniel
Pharmaceutical companies are commonly criticized for charging exorbitantly high prices for their products which can make it difficult for many patients to access life-saving drugs. Competitors, such as generic manufacturers, often cannot manufacture cheaper alternatives to these drugs due to strong patents which protect against product copying. Both the Bayh-Dole Act and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) include provisions which allow competitors to circumvent pharmaceutical patent protection under limited circumstances. Although there are instances in which such circumvention is necessary, ambiguities in these statutes allow countries to bypass pharmaceutical patents and encourage production of cheaper, generic versions of drugs in situations where the drug prices charged by the patent holder are not prohibitively expensive or unreasonable. Although there are the short-term benefits of cheaper drugs, weakening patent protection in this way would have long-term detrimental effects on pharmaceutical innovation, affordability, and accessibility.