Abstract EN:

If able to meet the challenge of the "2nd pharmacological revolution" and to counter the relative regression of tis r-d, the advanced technology side of the pharmaceutical industry should become, in the short term, a prime mover in the national and international "health sector". Yet to achieve this, several major stumbling-blocks must first be overcome : omnipresent public interventionism, the health financing crisis, and the north-south tug-of-war over the technological stakes. Other potential obstacles include the relative mistrust of public bodies and the burden of moral and ethical problems linked to the spread of pharmaceutical "progress". New normative control methods thus objectify a specific "co-operation conflict" (p-f. Gonod) between nation-states, juridical-political entities, and pharmaceutical tnc, techno-economic structures. And although the international juridical framework remains largely compartmentalized and encumbered with national particularisms, more dynamic trends are nevertheless emergins : with regard to the rationalization of technological exchange structures in themselves, to a gradual harmonization of positive rights, and to a global reinforcement in the protection of pharmaceutical industrial property rights. These may lead to an in-depth redefinition of the role of the authorities and of international organizations with respect to the spread of innovation and technology carried out by the stns in this sector.