[Ecommerce] Re: [Ip-health] Patent Donations are criticized

[Joel Lexchin]

Patent donations were being used by drug companies in Canada for a while in
an attempt to get around regulations from the Patented Medicine Prices
Review Board (PMPRB). The PMPRB limits the rate of rise of prices of
patented medicines to the rate of inflation. Some companies were donating
patents on some drugs to the public and then arguing that since the drugs
were no longer patented they were no longer subject to the regulations of
the PMPRB. Companies were doing this especially in cases where the
manufacturing process was difficult and there was a low likelihood of
generic competition. This practice was allowed for a few years but then the
PMPRB ruled that it still had authority over these drugs until the patent
term would have normally expired.
-- 
Joel Lexchin MD
121 Walmer Rd.
Toronto Ontario
Canada M5R2 2X8
Tel:  416-964-7186
Fax:  416-923-9515
e mail:  joel.lexchin@utoronto.ca