Patent rights, usually lasting up to 20 years before expiration, allow the pharmaceutical company which produced the drug, the right and ability to sell it. These patents create a temporary monopoly which allowing firms who paid for production to make a profit for their investment. Generally after the patent has expired, the drug is then mass produced under generic labeling, and is often much cheaper and accessible than was the patented version. But throughout the duration of the patent, availability of the drug has become a large problem. With only one company having exclusive rights in marketing and manufacturing the drug, it becomes unavailable in some countries and its high costs prevent those in need from obtaining it. The Drug Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act allows the FDA to approve the production of generic versions of previously patented drugs by bypassing the redundant health and safety research measures reducing the additional amount of years for public availability of the drug. The United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) entered into force on ...
(7) Hall B. Patents and Patent Policy -. 2007. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the Morse H. SETTLEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRIES: ANTITRUST RULES. Allison JR, Lemley MA, Moore KA, Trunkey RD. Valuable patents. Geol.
"In the past two decades or so, health care has been commercialized as never before, and professionalism in medicine seems to be giving way to entrepreneurialism," commented Arnold S. Relman, professor of medicine and social medicine at Harvard Medical School (Wekesser 66). This statement may have a great deal of bearing on reality. The tangled knot of insurers, physicians, drug companies, and hospitals that we call our health system are not as unselfish and focused on the patients' needs as people would like to think. Pharmaceutical companies are particularly ruthless, many of them spending millions of dollars per year to convince doctors to prescribe their drugs and to convince consumers that their specific brand of drug is needed in order to cure their ailments. For instance, they may present symptoms that are perfectly harmless, and lead potential citizens to believe that, because of these symptoms, they are "sick" and in need of medication. In some instances, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States misleads both the public and medical professionals by participating in acts of both deceptive marketing practices and bribery, and therefore does not act within the best interests of the consumers.
Lehman, Bruce. 2003. “The Pharmaceutical Industry and the Patent System”. International Intellectual Property Institute. Pages 1-14.
In America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products.
An Analysis of GlaxoSmithKline The business that I have done research into is GlaxoSmithKline. This company is a globalised research-based pharmaceutical public limited company. Its ownership structure has changed a great deal since the original company was first established in 1715. Originally a pharmacy, the company has expanded, merged with and taken over other companies over the decades.
Due to patents, Pfizer and other companies in the pharmaceutical industry are not always competing in a monopolist’s competition. When a business has a patent, they are the only manufacturer who can produce the product until the product expires, so it is clear that the firm can act as a monopoly while in control of the patent. As a monopolistic company, the company has market power, giving it the capability to adjust the market price of a good. The main goal for a monopolist and business owner is to maximize their profits, however, there are rules they have to abide by. Monopoly companies still have to keep up with the market demand curve.
For a drug to get to market it must go through several stages of research and development (Abbott and Vernon). Starting with discovery research, preclinical testing on animals, three phases of clinical trials on humans, and finally FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval (Abbott and Vernon). Out of several thousands of drugs only a few will make it to the FDA approval stage (Abbott and Vernon). Testing is a highly regulated, time consuming, and expensive process. From beginning to end the process can take fifteen years and less than one of five compounds will make it to market where it is still not guaranteed to succeed (Abbott and
Pharmaceutical patents are patents for inventions within the pharmaceutical industry. Patents give exclusive rights for an invention for a product or a process of making a product [1]. There are many aspects to patents in the pharmaceutical industry that are both pros and cons; it just depends on what industry you are in. Pharmaceutical companies take out patents so they can regulate the market and restrict competition from other companies. By obtaining patents pharmaceutical companies also attract investment. In addition to this pharmaceutical companies can also regulate the price of the drug as they will be the only company selling that drug. However these aspects of patents can adversely affect the generics industry. The generics industry cannot make or sell drugs that are patented but once a patent licence expires, both the generics industry and the WHO see increased benefits as drugs become more widely available around the world (i.e. developing countries) at a lower price. Here we will discuss the pros and cons of patents from the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, generics industry and the WHO.
need to be marketed. In addition, there will be a variety of legalized drugs. Not only will
One thing is guaranteed to happen; people will always get sick. Diseases and bacteria are always changing and the human body’s immune system isn’t always prepared to fight it off. The pharmaceutical industry knows this, and that’s why they are a multi-billion dollar industry. Today, you will see a pill that will virtually cure every kind of “disease” out there whether it’s physical, emotional, or neurological. What is a “disease”? Supposedly if you have constant headaches, you have a disease. If you’re overweight, you have a disease. If you have trouble concentrating, you have a disease. Any little problem that you can think of, there most likely will be a pill out there that will “cure” that problem. First, your body is the only thing that can cure a disease. Second, everyone experiences these little problems and there are simple solutions that can “cure” these problems without the expensive pills that can cause harmful side effects. Why isn’t this information being told to us? Because of money. Notice that in all commercial breaks there is a commercial advertising some kind of pill for a certain kind of problem. They make so much money that the drug companies can employ thousands of lobbyists to bribe, lie, and payout almost anyone they need to to get them to advertise their product. Even politicians benefit from the pharmaceutical companies, and if politicians have their back, then how can they be expected to be stopped? Modern medicine has no doubt done wonders for many people to get better from illnesses, but this industry is getting way out of hand.
The products have multiple patents that expire at varying dates, thereby strengthening overall patent protection. Once the loss of exclusivity happens, generic pharmaceutical manufacturers will produce similar products and sell at lower prices. Price competition can substantially decrease the revenue. Furthermore, healthcare regulation, regulatory environment, pricing and access pressures, pipeline productivity and global economic environment are all the relevant factors that collectively determine the performance. The following is a list of explanations for the above factors.
This Dissertation, titled “Impact of TRIPS on Indian patent regime with reference to pharmaceutical sector” has been written and based on doctrinal method of research which involves the collection of data from secondary sources, like books written by authors and articles found in journals and websites. No empirical research methodology is employed in this work. Library sources and Internet has provided with a major contribution of most relevant and latest information on the web, which helped to explore the subject through various dimensions. NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad and library’s e- resources like Westlaw, Hein online have played a crucial role for the researcher to bring out materials for dissertation. Throughout this paper researcher has followed a uniform mode of citation.
Indian formulation industry along with its counterpart pharmaceutical industry has been booming in recent years. Both, India and China have been major players in pharmaceutical sector in Asian as well as global market. Pharmaceutical sector is generating considerable revenue for the economy of both the countries. India is famous for the number of patents in pharmaceutical industry it has and its formulation industry while china is known for its economical price and ready availability of the supplies in any quantity. Chinese manufacturers are facing issues with patent infringements while Indian sector lack bulk manufacturers.
A patent is a license or restraint placed by the government or international corporations in order to reserve the right or title of an invention for a set period of time, especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention...
The fact that pharmaceuticals were inevitably regarded as a part of public health, led many countries to provide for special regulations for them. Some countries which granted for product patents for ordinary inventions, allowed only process patents for pharmaceuticals. India too, till 2005, granted only process patents for pharmaceutical substances. This enabled Indian manufacturers to make copies of drugs patented elsewhere by finding out the constituents through reverse engineering. It is believed that a distinction between a product patent and a process patent was instrumental to the success of the pharmaceutical industry in India.