International Cooperation in Pharmaceutical Research

This paper aims at examining whether an increased stringency of Intellectual Property Right (IPR) protection is apt to stimulate international cooperation on research projects between developed and emerging countries. To address this issue, we look both at scientific and technological collaborations within the pharmaceutical domain, and we adopt a gravity framework to assess the impact of the IPR level on bilateral R&D cooperation. The analysis is conducted using data from patent and publication databases, and the results provide a sound test of conflicting theories on IPR enforcement and international collaborations in pharmaceutical research.