[Ip-health] patents as a requirement for HIF eligibility: new, disc. paper

[Nicole Woo]

[ Converted text/html to text/plain ]
If a discussion about this gets underway, please keep in mind Dean Baker's
proposals for alternative financing of pharmaceutical research (see below).
Malpractice[1]
Dean Baker
Boston Review, May/June 2009
When it comes to health care, economists ignore their own rules.  While few
economists would dispute that patent monopolies in pharmaceuticals and medical
technology provide incentives for wasteful activities, they defend patents as
the price we must pay for financing drug research and development. But patents
are simply one option for financing research, not essential at all.
The Benefits and Savings of Publicly-Funded Clinical Trials of Prescription
Drugs [2]
March 2008, Dean Baker
This paper proposes publicly funding prescription drug trials as an
alternative to the present system wherein pharmaceutical companies often
finance and conduct tests of  their drugs themselves.  The report posits that
in addition to substantial savings for the government, independent companies
working under long-term federal contracts would result in full and accurate
disclosure of the results of drug testing.

--__--__--
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:00:23 +0200
From: Miles Teg <b.miles.teg@gmail.com>[3][4]

his is a very interesting article, within the parameters of the issues
it seeks to address.
Perhaps more discussion on this is worthwhile because what it points to
is "market failures" that the patent system fails to address in spurring
innovation and the need for "other" incentives to help the patent
system. For an internal critique it provides much fodder for thought...
Any takers for further discussion on the list of this?
Well worth a read even for patent-crits....
Aidan Hollis wrote:

> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> The discussion paper is available at
> http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/igh/discussion_papers.html[5]
>
>
> New discussion paper from IGH
> ***
> Should a Prize System for Pharmaceuticals Require Patent Protection for
> Eligibility?
>
> Talha Syed
> Harvard University
>
>
> Abstract: In an earlier iteration of the Health Impact Fund proposal,
> Aidan Hollis and Thomas Pogge argued that only those pharmaceutical
> innovations that are covered by patent protection should be eligible
> for receiving payments. This, however, would fail to take advantage
> of a distinct benefit held out by rewards as compared to patents in
> the context of pharmaceuticals: rewards can provide incentives for a
> broader range of valuable developmental activities than what would
> qualify as =93innovative=94 under the patent system=92s proxies. Moreover=


,

> recognizing why and how this is so can produce a salutary shift in
> our understanding of the reasons for providing patent protection (or
> some alternative innovation policy) for pharmaceuticals. This short
> paper discusses why the patent requirement should be dispensed
> with and responds to some common concerns with such a position.
> ***
>
> I would add that while the paper specifically addresses the HIF, the
> general arguments apply equally to any similar system of prizes.
>
> Comments are of course welcome: this is a discussion paper.
>
> Aidan Hollis
> Professor of Economics
>
> University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW Calgary AB T2N 1N4 Canada
> tel: +1 403 220 5861  fax: +1 403 220 5861
> email: ahollis@ucalgary.ca[6]
> web: http://econ.ucalgary.ca/hollis.htm[7]
>
> Incentives for Global Health
> http://www.healthimpactfund.org[8]
>
>

--
Nicole Woo
Director of Domestic Policy
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
1611 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202.293.5380 x108
Fax: 202.588.1356
E-mail: woo@cepr.net[9]
Website: www.cepr.net[10]

===References:===
  1. http://www.cepr.net/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=2219
  2. http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/the-benefits-and-savings-of-publicly-funded-clinical-trials-of-prescription-drugs/
  3. mailto:b.miles.teg@gmail.com
  4. mailto:ip-health@lists.essential.org
  5. http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/igh/discussion_papers.html
  6. mailto:ahollis@ucalgary.ca
  7. http://econ.ucalgary.ca/hollis.htm
  8. http://www.healthimpactfund.org
  9. mailto:woo@cepr.net
 10. http://www.cepr.net