[Ip-health] Global Pharmaceutical Markets and Corpo rate Citizenship: The Case of Novartis’ Anti-cancer Drug Glivec

[Joana Ramos]

FYI, this just out.

Joana

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Global Pharmaceutical Markets and Corporate Citizenship: The Case of
Novartis’ Anti-cancer Drug Glivec
Biosocieties (2008), 3:165-181
Stefan Ecks


Abstract

This paper analyses a remarkable transformation of global capitalism in
recent years: that corporations claim to be ‘good citizens’ and are
driven by higher aspirations than profits alone. It focuses on the
lawsuit brought by the drug company Novartis against the Indian
government over the patent for the anti-cancer drug Glivec. Novartis’
attack on Indian patent law caused an international outcry. Opponents of
Novartis argued that the company was trying to destroy essential
provisions in the Indian law that keep drugs affordable even after the
country signed up to the World Trade Organization's agreement on
Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). With reference to
‘the constitutional obligation of providing good health care to its
citizens’, the High Court in Chennai, India, dismissed Novartis’
challenge in August 2007. While health activists celebrated the court's
decision as a victory for anti-corporate citizens, this article argues
that Novartis won a more important battle elsewhere: to protect its
profits in European and North American markets. The article shows how
claims to ‘citizenship’ were mobilized by both anti-Novartis and
pro-Novartis groups, and how Novartis’ global corporate citizenship
programme succeeded even when it seemed to fail.


Author information:

Stefan Ecks is a Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Co-Director of the
Anthropology of Health and Illness Programme at the University of
Edinburgh. He has carried out ethnographic fieldwork on health and
medicine in India since 1999. His current work focuses on pharmaceutical
markets, evidence-based medicine and global corporate citizenship.

School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, Adam
Ferguson Building, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LL UK E-mail:
stefan.ecks@ed.ac.uk


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Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
+1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.bmtbasics.org
www.healthyskepticism.org