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Category: Intellectual Property Rights & Innovation

What is the relationship between patent protection, medical innovation, and human health? Supporters of strong patent regimes note that patents encourage companies to invest heavily in research and development, eventually producing new drugs that decrease mortality from disease and increase the quality of life for millions of people around the world. Critics of patent protection claim that patents deny poor nations affordable access to life-saving medicinesā€”and point to the explosion of AIDS in Africa as proof.

Economists generally agree that patents give companies a powerful financial incentive to invest in the risky and expensive process of drug development. Without patent protection, the pipeline of new medicines would be severely reduced. This would be an enormous tragedy for public health ā€” including global efforts to fight AIDS and other drug resistant or emerging infectious diseases like avian flu.

Rather than punishing companies that produce life-saving medicines, where there are true "market failures" in the provision of drugs to treat diseases that disproportionately affect poor nations, policymakers should focus on public private partnerships and other incentives that will lead to both increased innovation and access to new medicines in developing nations.

[Forum] [Spotlight] [Commentary] [Research] [Events] [News]

Forum

Brazil to AIDS Drug Companies: Cut Your Research Budgets. By Paul Howard, November 14, 2007
Fighting Crime in the Beltway By Benjamin Zycher, August 09, 2007
A New Precautionary Principle? By Paul Howard, July 05, 2007
Congress v. Global Health By Paul Howard, July 02, 2007

Commentary

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The Thai Flu Wall Street Journal, 3-14-07
Thai Patent Turmoil by Ron Cass, Wall Street Journal Asia, 3-12-07
Bangkok's Drug War Goes Global Wall Street Journal, 3-7-07
40 Years Later, Still No Cure by Phyllis Richman, Washington Post, 3-7-07
India and the Drug Patent Wars by Roger Bate, AEI Online, 2-7-07
Drugs in Thailand: The government should take care about ripping up patents Financial Times, 1-31-07
Science and Shams by David Shaywitz, The Boston Globe, 7-27-06
Plundering Patents by Alan Oxley, Wall Street Journal Europe, 2-1-06
A rebuttal on ‘half-truths’ by Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Washington Times, 7-8-05
Misdiagnosing the diseases of the poor by Barun Mitra, International Policy Network, 2-9-05
Intellectual Property and Its Discontents Washington Times, 10-14-04
Are Free-Trade Agreements Good for Your Health? by Benedict Irvine, by Andres Mejia-Vergnaud, Wall Street Journal Asia, 9-10-04
Biotech Destruction by Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Tech Central Station, 4-30-04
Borking Mark McClellan by Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Washington Times, 3-8-04
Drugs from Canada by Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Washington Times, 1-12-04
Vaccinating against disaster by Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Washington Times, 12-17-03

Research

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"Napsterizing" Pharmaceuticals: Access, Innovation, and Consumer Welfare, NBER Working Paper No. w9229, September 2002
U.S. Pediatric Studies Have Led to New Labeling for Nearly 100 Drugs, According to Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, July 2005
Estimating the Cost of New Drug Development: Is it Really $802 Million?, Health Affairs, March 2006
Are Development Times for Pharmaceuticals Increasing or Decreasing?, Health Affairs, March 2006

Events

Health for Humanity: How Patent Protection Saves Lives, Center for Medical Progress Conference, Speaker(s): Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., Julian Morris, Frank R. Lichtenberg, Roger Bate, Dr. Amir Attaran, James Love, December 2002
Transcript Available
Patents for Antiretroviral Drugs: Help or Hinder the Search for a Solution to AIDS Treatment in Africa, Center for Medical Progress Presentation, Speaker(s): Dr. Amir Attaran, Frank R. Lichtenberg, December 2001

News

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Drug companies' patents are under attack. Will this really help the poor? The Economist, 6-7-07
Abbott Escalates Thai Patent Rift—Firm Pulls Plans to Offer New Drugs In Spat With Regime Wall Street Journal, 3-14-07
Brazil reaches drug patent deal , 7-9-05
Brazil aims for cheaper AIDS drugs CBSNews.com, 7-4-05
India Adopts Patent Law Covering Pharmaceuticals International Herald Tribune, 3-24-05
Company of the Year Biotech Behemoth Long a two-hit wonder, Amgen is on the brink of a research renaissance that will target cancer, diabetes and more. Forbes, 1-10-05
An experiment in globalisation - how India hopes to reshape the world drugs industry - PHARMACEUTICALS: Companies hope the country can build on its success in fields such as software and become a centre for innovation and research Financial Times, 8-18-04
Fixed-Dose Mixtures of Generic AIDS Drugs Prove Effective The New York Times, 7-15-04
Pfizer AIDS drug has good early trial results Reuters News, 7-14-04
Bush Seeks Policy Fix For Drug Imports The Boston Globe, 7-13-04
Pfizer chief's speech disrupted by AIDS activists carrying mock corpses Associated Press Newswires, 7-13-04
Generic AIDS Pill Gets Patent in Africa Wall Street Journal, 7-13-04
U.N. Agency Drops 2 Drugs For AIDS Care Worldwide The New York Times, 6-16-04
Vioxx Heart-Risk Evidence Mounts - Users of Merck's Painkiller Had More Hospitalizations Than Those on Celebrex Wall Street Journal, 5-28-04
Discount Cards Still Leave Fat Markups on Generic Drugs Wall Street Journal, 5-26-04
Genesis of a copycat generation: Despite big investment in biogeneric drugs, doubts remain about the profitability of the new industry Financial Times, 5-21-04
Abbott AIDS drug pricing leads to review of patent Chicago Tribune, 5-21-04
U.K. lets Zocor sell over the counter - Merck drug ruling sets stage for U.S. The Star-Ledger, 5-13-04
Abbott Laboratories Faces Heat Over Raising Price of AIDS Drug Wall Street Journal, 5-13-04


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