Ethics and industrial property Some questions about pharmaceutical patents

Abstract

An important factor in order to analyze the
relationship between ethics, health, research
and market is the historical evolution of medicinal
patents. Debates regarding property
rights over abstract or conceptual products
of human labor emerged in the historical
stage characterized by the generalization of
commercial society.
However, the course
that led to the widespread
imposition of
patents, at the end
of the 19th century,
was determined by
important economic
and philosophical
controversies that
since a century before
have taken place,
with the advent of
industrial capitalism.
We will explain how the controversies around
this problem developed, so as to demystify
the patent law as a “natural” expression of
technical scientific development. On the
contrary, we will seek to show that the itinerary
of property rights over knowledge
was conditioned by precise historical and
social circumstances.