Hilberg, E. orcid.org/0000-0002-0641-2917 (2022) Molecular sovereignties: patients, genomes, and the enduring biocoloniality of intellectual property. BioSocieties, 17. pp. 695-712. ISSN 1745-8552
Abstract
Monoclonal antibodies are revolutionizing cancer treatments, but come at an increasingly problematic price for health services worldwide. This leads to pressing demands for access, as in the case of Kadcyla. In 2015, patients in the United Kingdom invoked the sovereign rights of the Crown in order to demand access to this expensive yet potentially life-saving medicine that had prior been de-listed due to price. This article interprets this campaign as an act of sovereign reassertion against a fundamental exclusion, which, however, ultimately fails to challenge the concrete mechanism enabling this exclusion—intellectual property (IP). By connecting this example to other declarations of molecular sovereignty, the article argues that the use of sovereignty can perpetuate further exclusion. Drawing on the notion of biocoloniality (Schwartz-Marín and Restrepo 2013) it points out that the intellectual property regime contains a deeply embedded fiction of the world as terra nullius, a blank uninhabited canvas ripe for discovery and appropriation. This decontextualised vision of life as property works to exclude populations and patients from playing a significant role in determining the use of technologies and treatments. Instead of countering this fundamental exclusion, the concept of sovereignty further entrenches this assumption and merely contests the assignation of this property.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2021. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in BioSocieties. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Biocoloniality; Intellectual property; Monoclonal antibodies; Sovereignty; Access and benefit sharing agreements |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 05 Jul 2021 16:19 |
Last Modified: | 24 Jun 2024 13:42 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1057/s41292-021-00237-5 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:175903 |