To make lifesaving drugs more widely available, Priti Krishtel ’02 advocates for patent reform around the world.
In 2005, India changed its patent laws to allow pharmaceutical products to be patented—a seismic shift for a country whose previous, less-stringent patent protections had made it a world leader in generic medicines. Sensing disaster for millions of low-income patients, health activists launched a campaign to amend the new legislation to protect access to affordable medications. That was the moment when Priti Radhakrishnan Krishtel ’02, then a senior project officer in the HIV/AIDS unit of India’s Lawyers Collective, found her true calling.