Full text rendered from the published PDF. The PDF is the version of record; if the two differ, the PDF governs.
Access to medicines is a pertinent human rights issue: inadequate access to necessary medications poses severe consequences, including preventable deaths. The right of access to medicines is recognised as a fundamental aspect of the right to health, which is widely integrated into international and domestic legal systems. A right that has received less attention, however, is the right to benefit from scientific progress and its applications (hereinafter referred to as ‘the right to science’). This is a long-standing right, but has only recently begun to draw attention in the discourse on human rights. There is an interdependence between the two aforementioned rights, primarily in that science is required for the research and development of medicines. Thus it can be argued that, without the right to science, the right to medicines cannot be fully realised. This inquiry lays the foundation for further exploration of the utility of the right to science in alleviating prominent global issues such as inadequate access to medicines.
Keywords: Access to Medicine, Health Rights, Medicine Shortages, Right to Science, Socio-economic Rights
With over two billion people globally lacking ac- cess to essential medicines, it is necessary to ex- plore ways in which this issue can be remedied, particularly as inadequate access to certain medi- cines can result in preventable deaths. Litigation is one such means of addressing this issue; however discourse is lacking regarding the utility of the right to science in this regard. The World Health Assembly acknowledges the in- tegral role of medicines in ensuring health rights:
“Recognizing that the continuous sup- ply of quality, safe, effective and af- fordable medicines is one of the build- ing blocks of every well-functioning health system, which requires a reliable supply chain; and noting reports of global medicines shortages and stock- outs that also infringe upon the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health as envisaged by the WHO Constitution, that undermine the attainment of public health prevention and treatment goals and that threaten governments’ ability to scale up ser- vices towards achieving universal health coverage as well as their ability
“Iran’s Dire and Growing Drug Shortage” https://www.stim- son.org/2025/irans-dire-and-growing-drug-short- age/#:~:text=A%20combina- tion%20of%20high%20prices,about%20a%20hun- dred%20are%20unavailable. (accessed 27 February 2025). 64 Health Justice Initiative (2024) “Joint Statement in Re- sponse to South African Competition Commission Decision to Drop Investigation Against Vertex Pharmaceuticals on Treatment for Cystic Fibrosis” https://healthjusticeinitia- tive.org.za/2024/12/13/joint-statement-competition-commis- sion-vertex-south-africa/?utm_source=chatgpt.com (ac- cessed 10 January 2025) 65 Time News (2024) “Ministry of Health and Invima, sued for lack of medicines” https://time.news/ministry-of-health- and-invima-sued-for-lack-of-medi- cines/?utm_source=chatgpt.com (accessed 10 January 2025).
to adequately respond to outbreaks and health emergencies” 66 The firmly grounded link between the right to sci- ence and the right to access to medicines under the right to health, underscores the potential of the for- mer as an additional tool in realising the latter. Fur- ther exploration is warranted into the utility of the right to science in this context; as illustrated by the cases discussed, it can aid litigation on access to medicines, and thus the realisation of the right to health in this regard. Arguably, the interconnected- ness of rights, and invoking more than one right in litigation, can strengthen the possibility of recourse and realisation of the rights in question. Failure to consider the broader interdependence of rights leaves those such as access to medicine overly de- pendent on economic and political influence. Bibliography
Table of Cases Lopez, Glenda, et al. v Instituto Venezolano de los
Seguros Sociales https://www.escr- net.org/es/caselaw/2006/lopez-glenda-y-otros- c-instituto-venezolano-seguros-sociales-ivss-s- accion-amparo/ (Accessed 10 January 2025).
Ahmadiani S and Nikfar S, ‘Challenges of Access
to Medicine and the Responsibility of Pharma- ceutical Companies: A Legal Perspective’ (2016) 24 DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Boggio A, ‘The Right to Participate in and Enjoy
the Benefits of Scientific Progress and Its Ap- plications: A Conceptual Map’ (2022) 34 Bry- ant University, Bryant Digital Repository 43.
Chirwa DM, ‘The right to health in international
law: Its implications for the obligations of state
66 World Health Assembly 69th Session Addressing the Global Shortage of Medicines and Vaccines (2016) WHA69.25
and non-state actors in ensuring access to es- sential medicine’ (2003) 19(4) South African Journal on Human Rights 541–566.
Donders Y, ‘The Right to Enjoy the Benefits of
Scientific Progress: In Search of State Obliga- tions in Relation to Health’ (2011) 14 Medi- cine, Health Care and Philosophy 371.
Hendriks A, ‘The Right to Health’ (1994) 1 Euro-
pean Journal of Health Law 187.
Jamar SD, ‘The International Human Right to
Health’ (1994) 22 Southern University Law Review 1 <https://ssrn.com/ab- stract=1093085>.
Müller A, ‘Remarks on the Venice Statement on
the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications (Article 15(1)(b) ICESCR)’ (2010) 10 Human Rights Law Re- view 765 <https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngq033>.
Ozawa S, Shankar R, Leopold C and Orubu S, ‘Ac-
cess to Medicines through Health Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries’ (2019) 34 Health Policy and Planning <https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czz119>.
Shawa R, Ahmed R, Bawa M and Kapumba B, ‘A
Promising Potential: Using the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress to Advance Public Health in South Africa’ (2023) 23 Afri- can Human Rights Law Journal 30.
Smith T, ‘Understanding the Nature and Scope of
the Right to Science through the Travaux Préparatoires of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (2020) 24 International Journal of Human Rights 1156 <https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2020.1715 947>.
Tiberi S, Carvalho ACC, Sulis G and others, ‘The
Challenge of the New Tuberculosis Drugs’ (2017) 46 La Presse Médicale e41 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lpm.2017.01.016>.
Table of Books De Schutter O, 'The Status of Human Rights in In-
ternational Law' in Catarina Krause and Martin Scheinin (eds), International Protection of Hu- man Rights: A Textbook (2nd edn, Åbo Akad- emi University Institute for Human Rights 2012) 39
Hannum H, 'The United Nations and Human
Rights' in Catarina Krause and Martin Scheinin (eds), International Protection of Human Rights: A Textbook (2nd edn, Åbo Akademi University Institute for Human Rights 2012) 149
Riedel E, 'Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' in
Catarina Krause and Martin Scheinin (eds), In- ternational Protection of Human Rights: A Textbook (2nd edn, Åbo Akademi University Institute for Human Rights 2012) 377
Saul B and others, The International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Com- mentary, Cases, and Materials (OUP 2014)
Ssenyonjo M, Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights in International Law (Hart Publishing 2009)
Tobin J, The Right to Health in International Law
(OUP 2012)
Toebes B, The Right to Health as a Human Right
in International Law (Intersentia 1999)
Other Cited Materials Australian Medical Association, ‘New forum
needed to improve Australia’s response to medicine shortages’ (24 January 2025) <https://www.ama.com.au/media/new-forum- needed-improve-australias-response-medicine- shortages> accessed 10 May 2025.
Coomber P, ‘Why doesn’t Australia make more
medicines? Wouldn’t that fix drug shortages?’ (12 May 2025) <https://www.uq.edu.au/news/arti- cle/2025/05/why-doesnt-australia-make-more- medicines-wouldnt-fix-drug-shortages> ac- cessed 14 May 2025. Health Justice Initiative, ‘Joint statement in re-
sponse to South African Competition Com- mission decision to drop investigation against Vertex Pharmaceuticals on treatment for cystic fibrosis’ (13 December 2024) <https://healthjusticeinitia- tive.org.za/2024/12/13/joint-statement-compe- tition-commission-vertex-south-africa/> ac- cessed 10 January 2025. Mousavi SMR, ‘Iran’s dire and growing drug
shortage’ (10 October 2025) <https://www.stimson.org/2025/irans-dire- and-growing-drug-shortage/> accessed 27 February 2025.
Tehran Times, ‘Civil society activists warn about
US threats against Iran’ (6 September 2025) <https://www.teh- rantimes.com/news/511498/Civil-society-ac- tivists-warn-about-US-threats-against-Iran> accessed 10 April 2025. Time News, ‘Ministry of Health and Invima, sued
for lack of medicines’ (2024) <https://time.news/ministry-of-health-and- invima-sued-for-lack-of-medicines/> accessed 10 January 2025. UN Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural
Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, Farida Shaheed: The right to enjoy the benefits of scientific pro- gress and its applications (A/HRC/20/26, 10 May 2012) <https://digitallibrary.un.org/rec- ord/730844> accessed 12 September 2025. World Health Assembly, Addressing the global
shortage of medicines and vaccines (WHA69.25, 28 May 2016) <https://apps.who.int/gb/eb- wha/pdf_files/WHA69/A69_R25-en.pdf>. World Health Organization, ‘Access to medicines:
making market forces serve the poor’ in Ten years in public health, 2007–2017: Report by Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General (2017)
<https://www.who.int/publica- tions/i/item/9789241512442> accessed 23 July 2019. World Health Organization, The first ten years of
the World Health Organization (1958) <https://www.who.int/publica- tions/i/item/9789241560146>. World Health Organization, ‘Medicines’ (Health
Topics webpage, last updated 5 September 2025) <https://www.who.int/health-top- ics/medicines> accessed 10 April 2025. World Health Organization, WHO model list of
essential medicines (23rd list, 2023) <https://www.who.int/publica- tions/i/item/WHO-MHP-HPS-EML-2023.02> accessed 10 April 2025.