TRIPS, Human Rights, and the Health Impact Fund

Is it morally permissible to impose strong patent protections where doing so prices important new medicines out of the reach of many poor people? This essay argues that doing so is not permissible and in fact a human rights violation. To become human rights compliant, the global patent regime must be complemented by an enduring institutional mechanism that effectively incentivizes the development and distribution of high-impact medicines that meet the health needs of poor people and are accessible to them. The Health Impact Fund (HIF) is designed to be such a complement. Toward the end, the essay discusses and refutes three popular arguments claiming that no such complement is needed because high prices for vital patented medicines, backed by the legal suppression of cheaper generic substitutes, do no injustice to poor people.