Right to profits doesn't surpass common good, Vatican official says

Published: 2004-05-10

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Drug companies' right to make a profit and protect patents can conflict with people's right to needed medicines and care, said a Vatican official at a symposium attended by generic pharmaceutical companies. In a speech May 7, Bishop Jose Redrado Marchite, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, told symposium participants, "We know that producing medicines is a complicated and costly process" and expensive research and development "are indispensable for fighting old and new pathologies." Patenting such medicines is part of protecting a drug company's investment in research and development, he said. However, "the right to (protect) intellectual property -- even though it is fair and helps stimulate progress -- can in some instances conflict with other fundamental rights such as the right to good health," he said.

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