Propriedade intelectual e doenças negligenciadas: um estudo de caso da Leishmaniose à luz do sistema jurídico de patentes

Abstract

Some diseases are classified as neglected because they mainly affect a poorer consumer market, representing low potential financial returns for the pharmaceutical industry, even though they are responsible for more than a billion cases in 149 countries. The list of neglected diseases includes Leishmaniasis, an endemic disease in Brazil and Minas Gerais. There is still no vaccine for leishmaniasis in humans, whose treatment is highly toxic. Leishmaniasis-positive dogs are usually euthanized, as there is no cure for the disease in canines and they can transmit it to humans. The aim is to see how the effects of the legal patent system are related, from an innovation policy perspective, based on the case study of leishmaniasis, a neglected disease, considering the profile of the applicants, the purpose of the filings and the status of the patent applications collected from the INPI database. "The theory proposed by Bankowski served as a guiding principle for this research.". The analysis gathered and studied all available patent application files from the INPI, to verify the profile of the applicants, the purpose of the inventions, the status of the patent applications and the use of the priority processing prerogative. The patent legal system does not promote innovation for neglected diseases like Leishmaniasis due to the limited financial gain associated with researching and developing treatments for a disease that primarily affects low-income populations. It seems that there was little interest from the private sector in developing innovations related to the disease, leading to a high concentration of research and development in public universities, particularly those located in Minas Gerais due to the endemic nature of the disease in the state. Most of the innovations are aimed at treating the disease, reflecting the market's need to look for less toxic treatments. The lack of interest from the private sector in developing innovations related to Leishmaniasis has led to a high concentration of research and development in public universities. The legal patent system also reflects the neglected nature of the disease, failing to fulfill its original aspiration. This highlights the need to reformulate public policies aimed at the public health problem that is Leishmaniasis in the country.