How Can Lower-Income Countries Access COVID-19 Medicines Without Destroying the Patent System? The National Exhaustion Solution

Abstract

Many scholars argued that improving access to medicine requires major amendments to the patent system, which is
structured according to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. This article argues that the
argument is not necessarily true. Amending Article 6 of the TRIPS Agreement to adopt a national exhaustion rule for
pharmaceutical patents would be sufficient to achieve a considerable improvement in access to medicine while simultaneously
strengthening patent protection. This proposal encourages the pharmaceutical industry to adopt a price discrimination policy
whereby Pharma would lower medicine prices in the lower-income countries. Accordingly, global access to new medicines
such as COVID-19 medicines could be increased as these countries have the majority of poor people. At the same time, Pharma
can continue to sell the same medicine in higher-income countries at higher prices, generating sufficient profits to incentivize
research and development.