The Balance of Public Good vs. Private Profit

In the Washington Post article, From a Visionary English Physicist, Self-Adjusting Lenses for the Poor, Joshua Silver stated that he rejected significant financial offers by private vision companies to the rights of his technology. Silver's commitment to the public good is inspiring. In thinking about his mission it led me to ponder on more of a macro-level about policy challenges in promoting public good over private profit.

I recently read about a case in India that highlights this struggle. When India joined the WTO (World Trade Organization) they had to create patent laws on medicines. They wrote the laws in a way that gave the government power “to reject patents on new forms of old medicines that show little improved therapeutic efficacy” thereby preventing drug companies from gaining unnecessary 20-year monopolies on medicines that could be created generically and sold more cheaply to improve the health of people in developing nations¹. However, this law enraged drug companies and led to a, now, seven-year lawsuit from the multinational Swiss drug company Novartis. The drug company seeks to tighten the law so that they can patent a specific salt used in a cancer-fighting drug. Despite a petition signed by over 1 million people to drop the lawsuit, Novartis refuses and the battle continues. Is Novartis at fault in suing India? Should they be allowed to patent their salt in India even if that comes at the cost of limiting accessibility to a lifesaving drug in developing countries? On the other hand, the patent law benefits India's economy since producing and selling generic drugs generates a lot of profit so, is the law justifiable as a means of improving public health?

This conflict calls to attention the challenges governments and businesses will increasingly confront if they continue to work against one another at advancing their own agendas. The ability of policy makers to strike a balance between public good and private profit will be critical moving forward.

¹“Drug Company Novartis Tries to Weaken Indian Patent Law that Protects Patients” published 9/6/11. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=5514. Last retrieved on 9/15/11.