An empirical study on the role of patents in fostering local pharmaceutical innovation in China
Abstract
International analysts tend to view China as a major beneficiary of the TRIPS
Agreement, particularly concerning the effects of the stronger patents of TRIPS on local
innovation. Chinese policymakers were also motivated to adopt TRIPS IP reforms by
the expectation that stronger patents would stimulate China’s development and improve
its ability to match the performance of developed countries more rapidly. Yet, due to the
lack of empirical studies, these assumptions remain theoretical. This research
investigates empirical evidence to test these assumptions and determine actual impacts
on China’s pharmaceutical innovation. It seeks to answer two main questions: (1) how
has the TRIPS legal framework affected China’s ability to formulate a pro-development
patent policy for pharmaceuticals? (2) how has China’s patent policy affected domestic
pharmaceutical innovation? The investigation adopts a public health perspective,
through comparative legal analysis and statistical study. The empirical assessment was
built on country-level data collection.
The legal evaluation has revealed that China has adopted a pro-patent policy for
pharmaceuticals, in implementing TRIPS, Chinese policy-makers did not balance
intrinsic industry interests in strong patent protection against wider socio-economic
interests and issues under Chinese law and legal practices. This research has found that
China’s pro-patent policy has had multifaceted economic effects on innovation.
Whereas, positive effects of patent strengthening were indentified empirically through
innovation indicators, including patent applications and grants, R&D expenditure and
ITT inflow, the study also revealed various problems and challenges. Local innovation
remains imitation-oriented, little R&D is devoted to researching cures for major
4
diseases, more MNC patents control leading and upstream technologies, and patent
litigation has greatly increased. These developments do not augur well for China’s
ability to approach developed countries in pharmaceutical innovation. The Chinese
experience revealed in this thesis contrasts with conventional expectations of the effects
of TRIPS, at least in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry.
Authors
He, RongCollections
- Theses [3824]