Symposium 2006

The Globalization of Pharmaceutical Development: Race, Markets and Ethics

The conference is designed to explore the intersection of two developments. First, technological advances such as the human genome project have made us increasingly aware of the genetic bases of disease, and genetic differences in both the course and treatment of illness. Second, the globalization of the pharmaceutical industry has changed drug development, testing and marketing from the national to the global level.

These developments raise hope that scientists will be able to better target the causes of disease, and limit the side effects of treatments. They have also increased fears of a new round of racial stereotyping or prejudice. The most immediate issues, however, concern not these extremes, but the more prosaic issues of regulation and marketting. How will increased genetic information change which drugs are developed, on whom they are tested, for whom they are proscribed, and the nature of the regulation that should oversee this process? In short, this conference plans to address and discuss the results of the intersection of genetics, race, markets and ethics.

The Conference will be sponsored by the Santa Clara Institute of International and Comparative Law and the High Tech Law Institute. The Santa Clara Journal of International Law will publish the resulting papers.

*Attendees may receive up to 4 hours of Continuing Legal Education Credit, including 1.45 hours of Legal Ethics credit.