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Issue No. 363 (2025/2)
*Click on cover
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COVER:
Patently Ill-Served: Patent protections are pushing medicines out of
patients’ reach
TRIPS@30:
Thirty years of widening inequities in access to medicines
By K.M. Gopakumar
The TRIPS Agreement, the treaty that sets international standards
for the protection of intellectual property, turned 30 this year. In
its three decades of implementation, the stringent patenting requirements
imposed by the agreement have often thwarted affordable access to medicines
in developing countries.
WHO
Pandemic Agreement: A win for multilateralism, a missed opportunity
for public health?
The imperative
of access to medicines and other essential health products was made
painfully evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when unequal global distribution
of vaccines wrought devastating consequences. A milestone agreement
was adopted in May to improve international cooperation in tackling
such health crises but, as the following Third World Network
analysis reveals, fails to sufficiently plug gaps in access and in other
areas of pandemic prevention and response.
No
assurance of technology transfer during pandemic outbreaks
By Nithin Ramakrishnan
The Pandemic Agreement does not guarantee provision of technology
for the manufacture of health products, undermining prospects of broadening
production and availability of these items in times of emergency.
Protecting
profits, endangering lives
By TWN
The new drug lenacapavir marks a breakthrough in the fight against
HIV/AIDS but manufacturer Gilead’s aggressive use of the patent system
to prolong its monopoly on production is impeding access.
The
ever-present threat of evergreening
By Kanaga Raja
Apart from lenacapavir, other crucial medicines have also been the
target of patent evergreening by Big Pharma. Kanaga Raja looks
at the case of the tuberculosis drug bedaquiline in Thailand.
Colombian
civil society’s fight for access to affordable medicines
By Juliana López Méndez
Civil society groups in Colombia have long championed greater accessibility
of patented medicines, culminating in a historic move by the country
to break the patent monopoly on a key HIV drug.
Rare
diseases and roadblocks to affordable treatment
Policy
gaps and the unrealised potential of compulsory licences
By Chetali Rao
Medicines for rare diseases are among the most expensive pharmaceuticals
– costing up to millions per treatment – due in large part to patent
protections. Compulsory licensing can offer a way out of the price trap.
30
years of TRIPS and 20 years of patenting in Egypt: Why access to medicines
might still be a challenge
By Heba Wanis
In the face of strict, internationally imposed patenting requirements,
Egypt continues to prioritise affordable medicines for its people.
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ECOLOGY
Notes
from a vanishing shore
By Sigrid Marianne Gayangos
Amid overfishing, urbanisation and climate change, Filipino artisanal
fishing communities are fighting to maintain their way of life.
ECONOMICS
Tax
the rich and corporations to close the climate finance gap
By Franziska Mager
By righting rigged tax systems, governments will be able to fund
global climate solutions and still have billions left to invest in
domestic development.
Steering
AI towards the public interest
By Lean Ka-Min
A recent paper provides a blueprint for fostering innovation in
artificial intelligence outside the dictates of Big Tech.
WORLD
AFFAIRS
Resistance
works
By David Vine
How small groups took on great powers and won a victory for decolonisation,
Africa, indigenous peoples and more
For
over half a century, a small Indian Ocean archipelago has been the
focus of a David-and-Goliath struggle against British colonialism
and US militarism – a struggle that has now yielded a positive outcome.
Haiti’s
political impasse
By Greg Beckett
Haiti’s current form of ‘chokepoint governance’ represents a structural
transformation in how politics works in the country.
HUMAN
RIGHTS
Comics
and graphic novels can empower refugees to tell their stories on their
own terms
By Dominic Davies and Candida Rifkind
The growing genre of ‘refugee comics’ is disrupting a media landscape
that tends to reduce migrants to either threats or victims.
WOMEN
Ten
years after Ni Una Menos: Feminism, resistance and the future
By Maisa Bascuas
Maisa Bascuas traces the trajectory of the popular feminist movement
seeking to unify the struggle against social injustice in Argentina
and beyond.
CULTURE
African
music festivals and the politics of reclamation
By Achille Tenkiang
If they can navigate questions of ownership, authenticity and
exploitation, African music festivals hold promise of becoming genuine
platforms for both celebrating contemporary continental artistry as
well as honouring cultural heritage and memory.
Third
World Resurgence Page
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