MacArthur Winner Priti Krishtel Wants to Reform the Patent System and Create Health Equity

You’ve heard the stories and seen the headlines – life-saving drugs can be so expensive, people have to choose between them and buying food or paying rent. Oakland’s Priti Krishtel is working on a solution to this terrifying problem – she wants to reform the patent system. Pharmaceutical companies hold patents on their products, creating an ongoing monopoly that prevents competitors from bringing cheaper medications to the market to drive prices down. We’ll talk with Krishtel, who was recently awarded a MacArthur grant, about how she got into health justice and how she plans to update the patent system to bring equity to the medical system and save lives.

Guests:

Priti Krishtel, health justice lawyer and co-founder and co-executive director

Organization: I-MAK. - a non-profit building a more just and equitable medicines system. She is also a 2022 MacArthur fellow.

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