Da pesquisa teórica à pesquisa empírica: uma análise da produção científica referente ao caso das doenças negligenciadas e o direito de patente

Abstract

Methodology is a fundamental procedure for the development of reliable scientific research, since the method used is intended to organize knowledge in order to arrive at a valid diagnosis. This dissertation aims to analyze all scientific production associated with four projects on neglected diseases under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Marcos Vinício Chein Feres, focusing on the methodological transition of theoretical research to empirical research. The projects analyzed in this research are described in the coordinator's lattes curriculum, with the following titles: (1) "Neglected diseases and the 2007-2010 action plan for science, technology and innovation in the area of inputs to Health: An Interpretative Analysis of the Patent Law to Promote Research on Medicines for Tropical Diseases” (2008 - 2009); (2) “Neglected Diseases and Patent Law: An Interpretative Analysis of the Patent Law to Promote Research on Medicines for Tropical Diseases” (2009 - 2011); (3) “Right to patent and State intervention: the case of neglected diseases” (2011 – 2014, 2015 – current) and; (4) “Right as identity: patent right and the case of drugs for neglected diseases” (2014 – current). The research developed has a qualitative approach, in addition to being predominantly inductive, as it does not stems from a defined hypothesis, because this is built during the empirical investigation, based on data analysis. Thus, the following question is raised: “what can be extracted from publications derived from research projects whose object consists both in the theoretical proposal of the relationship between patent rights and neglected diseases, and in the analysis of patent applications referring to neglected diseases, focusing on the methodological transition of theoretical research to empirical research? In this vein, as a way to guide this empirical investigation, the Grounded Theory (TFD) by Kathy Charmaz (2009) is used as a methodological tool. This technique allows codifying the data, through representative categories, with the purpose of refining the data during the investigation, providing a theoretical construction in the end. Finally, because of the methodology used, a valid hypothesis is proposed in order to answer the research question. Moreover, it can be extracted from the codification process that theoretical research is centered on the development of a theoretical framework, whereas empirical research is centered on the methodological procedure. In this sense, the result is that empirical research strengthened the theories elaborated during the theoretical research. Therefore, another conclusion is that both studies complemented each other, since empirical research reinforced the argumentative theses present in theoretical research.