[Ip-health] Reuters: Edwards would remove some drug patent protections

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

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> "We'd offer a cash prize for the research and development of these
> drugs, but they don't get a patent. So we eliminate the monopoly,"
> Edwards said as he sought his party's presidential nomination in the
> November 2008 election.
>
> "The idea is you've got to give the financial incentive for the
> companies to do it but on the flip side you get the products to the
> market quicker, available quickly and at a much lower cost," he said.
>



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> Edwards would remove some drug patent protections
> Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:32pm EST
> =A9 Reuters2007All rights reserved
>
> By Scott Malone
>
> LEBANON, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful
> John Edwards said on Tuesday he would consider taking away patent
> protections for "breakthrough" drugs in a bid to get them more
> widely distributed and lower the cost of health care.
>
> Campaigning in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first
> nominating primary, the former North Carolina senator said the move
> would be part of his $120 billion plan to provide universal health
> care for all U.S. citizens.
>
> "It would also create a different dynamic for drug companies and
> particularly for breakthrough drugs in big areas like Alzheimer's,
> cancer, etc.," Edwards told a group of medical professionals at
> Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
>
> "We'd offer a cash prize for the research and development of these
> drugs, but they don't get a patent. So we eliminate the monopoly,"
> Edwards said as he sought his party's presidential nomination in the
> November 2008 election.
>
> "The idea is you've got to give the financial incentive for the
> companies to do it but on the flip side you get the products to the
> market quicker, available quickly and at a much lower cost," he said.
>
> Pharmaceutical companies sold some $274.9 billion worth of
> prescription drugs in the United States in 2006, according to market
> researcher IMS Health.
>
> Patent protections are intended to allow inventors a period of time
> to sell their wares with limited direct competition, and recoup
> their investments in research and development.
>
> Some of the world's top-selling drugs, including Pfizer Inc's anti-
> cholesterol drug Lipitor and AstraZeneca Plc's acid reflux treatment
> Nexium, which are still under patent, are losing sales to cheaper
> rivals that are based on older drugs with similar effects.
>
> (Editing by David Wiessler)
>