Expert review of drug patent applications: improving health in the developing world.

Many developing countries have enacted intellectual property laws allowing patents on pharmaceutical products. These countries now must figure out how to provide legitimate protection of innovative discoveries while avoiding drug patents that do not conform to their laws. Using case-study examples, including the antiretroviral tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF, or Viread), we demonstrate the importance of having outside experts participate in the review of drug patents. Vibrant patent review systems require sharing information among developing countries and active consultation with local public health authorities.