Innovation and Insufficient Evidence: The Case for a WTO Agreement on Health Technology Safety and Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation

Abstract:     
Health technology (particularly including pharmaceuticals and medical devices) constitutes an increasingly important item of international trade regulated by rules developed in large part by the World Trade Organisation (“WTO”). Affordable access to such technologies long will remain a critical factor in national responses to infectious disease pandemics, as well as the prevention of morbidity and mortality associated with disease, war and natural disaster. For many people such equitable access shall continue to be a basic precondition to health. All nations have developed regulatory processes for scientifically assessing the public health impacts of such health technologiesm – mostly in relation to safety issues, but often concerning their cost-effectiveness (that is, their objectively demonstrated therapeutic significance to a community).

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Accepted Paper Series