TED Talk: Ellen 'Thoen, Pool Medical Patents Save Lives

In Ellen 'Thoen's TED Talk, she begins by speaking about the Wright brothers' patent myth. The myth states essentially alludes the Wright brothers to be patent trolls.

In the early 1900s, the Wright brothers were patenting various aspects in the early innovation of the airplane. Reportedly, the Wright brothers were not actually using these patents and instead were aggressively sending licensing demand letters to "infringers". The US government claimed that the Wright airplane patent was "injurious to the development of aircraft...in the United States" and eventually put a stop to their allegations. The US forced the Wright brothers to make their patent available to others so not to hinder the advancement of the aircraft industry for US military purposes.

'Thoen sees a connection with this and pharmaceutical patents. In 2010, the United Nations established the Medicine Patent Pool (MPP) which serves similarly to the aircraft patent pool in the US a century ago. MPP provides affordable access to HIV medication to people living with HIV in developing countries. This was established as a result of when the World Trade Organization initiated new rules in 1995 which called for all countries to ensure 20-year patents for new medications. This has dramatically increased the number of patents in the area of antiretroviral drugs and medications in general.

I agree with 'Thoen in that we must "move from conflict to collaboration". This move towards alliance between pharmaceutical companies and nations will help us strengthen one another and reach a cure for epidemics such as HIV/AIDS.