Solidarity in Tension: Reconciling Intellectual Property Rights and the Right to Health in the Age of Pandemics

This article critically analyzes the changing and sometimes contentious interface between Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and the Human Right to Health (HRH), particularly against the backdrop of health crises at the global level. With the COVID-19 pandemic having exposed fundamental inequities in access to vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments, tensions between private interests for innovation and public interests for health have emerged anew with particular intensity. At the core of this tension is a conflict between two normative regimes: one that values exclusive market-based rights and another that requires universal, accessible access as a fundamental human right. The growth of international human rights case law and the enforcement of IPR more strictly through agreements such as TRIPS has fuelled legal and ethical discourse on access to life-saving medical technologies.The essay examines the ways in which preventive solidarity i.e., the view that collective and prospective action is required to prevent future health emergencies can be used as a normative link between these fields. It evaluates legal tools like the Doha Declaration, TRIPS flexibilities like compulsory licensing, and the jurisprudence of high-profile cases like Novartis v. Union of India. In drawing from both global legal regimes and national constitutional assurances (particularly Article 21 and 47 of the Indian Constitution), the paper makes the case for an overhauled legal and ethical framework that respects innovation while instilling distributive justice. Finally, it advocates for a global IPR regimes rebalancing to incorporate solidarity-oriented mechanisms for equitable health governance in a time defined by pandemic vulnerability.