33. 这些疫情应对措施还让人想起关于知识产权对于加剧和维持获得基本药物的不平等方面之作用的现有关切。102 全球艾滋病流行就是一个例子：制药公司利用专利人为限制可拯救生命的药物的供应，并抬高价格。联合国艾滋病毒/艾滋病联合规划署(艾滋病署)和人民疫苗联盟的其他成员此后曾呼吁采用新的办法，按照《国际卫生条例》第四十四条的规定，通过分享知识和最大限度地增加供应，把公共卫生放在首位。如下文所述，在世界贸易组织(世贸组织)的主持下还设计了一个替代制度，尽管范围有限。
33. Those kinds of responses to the pandemic also recall existing concerns over the role of intellectual property rights in advancing and maintaining inequities in access to essential medicines.102 An example is the global AIDS epidemic, in relation to which corporations used patents to artificially restrict supplies of life-saving medicines and to inflate their prices. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other members of the People’s Vaccine Alliance have since called for a new approach that puts public health first by sharing knowledge and maximizing supply, as mandated in article 44 of the International Health Regulations. As will be discussed below, an alternative regime, however limited in scope, was also devised under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO).