On 25th May 2023, Professor Aisling McMahon was invited to speak about her research on the role of patents in the health context at a workshop examining ‘Public Health, Trade and the Role of Law’ which was organised as part of a Royal Society of Edinburgh funded project that is led by Professor Anne-Maree Farrell (University of Edinburgh) and Professor Mary Donnelly (University College Cork).
Professor McMahon’s paper was entitled “Patents, TRIPS and the Private Governance of Public Health: A Perpetuating Institutionalised Marginalisation of Health?” which argued that there is a marginalisation of broader health needs within the current intellectual property system under TRIPS. The paper made the case that this marginalisation of health needs is embedded within the system due to a complex culmination of institutional structures and factors, and Aisling argued that such issues need broader interdisciplinary scrutiny within the health context to ensure greater equitable access and delivery of healthcare.
Professor McMahon is the Principal Investigator on the ERC funded PatentsInHumans Project. You can find out more about the PatentsInHumans project by visiting the project website: www.patentsinhumans.eu