Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

The developing world is aging rapidly, creating unprecedented demand for age-associated disease medicines (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease)--perhaps the most expensive and often patented category of pharmaceuticals. World Trade Organization member states in the developing world find themselves facing decisions that pit their national trade interests against their public health interests. Multinational pharmaceutical firms find themselves in a conflict paradigm, defending their intellectual property and pricing. The globalized stage is set for a complex drama with multiple actors whose competing and converging interests compel actions with significant impact on other stakeholders. What policy options are the key stakeholders considering vis-à-vis this challenge? How could these change the landscape of drug access and trade, if at all? This study will use Thailand and India's negotiations over patents on and prices of age associated disease medicines (e.g., Clopidogrel/Plavix, Imatinib mesylate/Glivec or Gleevic, Letrozole/Femara) in 2006-2012 with four multinational pharmaceutical firms (i.e., Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Roche, and Bayer) to do a comparative analysis of multiple, exploratory case-studies. Detailed, systematic text analysis and 45 interviews with key stakeholders will be conducted. A political economy analysis, drawing from game theory, will be utilized to forecast on outcomes and externalities.