Fármacos y patentes: tensiones no resueltas entre la salud y la propiedad

Ana Romero de Pablos

doi:10.3989/asclepio.2025.1397

Authors

Ana Romero de Pablos Instituto de Filosofía, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5911-5887

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/asclepio.2025.1397

Keywords:

Drugs, Patents, Geopolitics, Pharmaceutical Industry, Markets

Abstract

This paper offers a historiographical proposal that reflects on pharmaceuticals and patents and the conflicts between health and property in contemporary societies. It explores the extensive debates on patents and pharmaceuticals since the late 19th century; unlike today, patents on pharmaceuticals were not always allowed in Europe. It incorporates a case study that connects protection strategies and ethical issues on which there is still no consensus today. It concludes with a reflection on the tensions between public health and property, and the problems that are still pending today and that have made pharmaceuticals and patents both objects and subjects of contemporary geopolitics.

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