[A2k] Report Says Patents Prevent New Drugs

[Jeff Williams]

All,

  As has been suspected for several years now...

See:
http://www.acsblog.org/ip-and-tech-law-report-patent-law-stifles-drug-innovation.html

"Current orthodoxy claims patents encourage
innovation, by allowing developers to enjoy profitable monopolies on
their inventions which in turn inspire them to create new inventions. A
new report by the non-partisan General Accounting Office suggests that
this orthodoxy is wrong at least when drug companies are involved.
According to the report, existing patent law allows drug companies to
patent, and make substantial profits off of, "new" drugs which differ
little from existing medicines. Given high profit margins on very minor
innovations, the report argues that drug companies have little incentive

to produce innovative new drugs. In other words, current patent law
actually discourages drug companies from producing new medicines.
Responding to the report, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released a strongly

worded statement suggesting that a legislative response will be
forthcoming. "The findings in this new GAO report," said Senator Durbin,

"raise serious questions about the pharmaceutical industry claims that
there is a connection between new drug development and the soaring price

of drugs already on the market. Most troubling is the notion that
pharmaceutical industry profits are coming at the expense of consumers
in
the form of higher prices and fewer new drugs.""

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
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