Re:Our right to challenge junk patents is under threat
by brutusborn on Monday June 05, 2023 @08:49PM
(#36206618)
Do you have a link to an article or book that covers this?
I’m trying to workout why Swiss companies would outspend the rest, is it that patents incentivise sitting on your laurels? And did drugs require the huge testing they need now?
Re:Our right to challenge junk patents is under threat
by JamesBarney on Monday June 05, 2023 @09:40PM
(#36206982)
The cost of FDA approval was at least an order of magnitude lower back then. Why would anyone spend a billion dollars getting a drug FDA approved if after they do anyone else can manufacturer it?
Re:Our right to challenge junk patents is under threat
by jsmith45 on Tuesday June 06, 2023 @04:21PM
(#36218602)
You still need FDA approval to develop a generic. The FDA will not approvea generic unless both the patents and other legal exclusivities (I think the FDA sometimes grants exclusivity beyonbd the end of the patent).
If patents were abolished, the FDA could instead be authorized to blanket grant such exclusivity to genuinely new drugs, with pretty much the same effect as patents.
Historically, before the homogenization of IP law, pharmaceuticals had different patent protection in different countries, ranging from very strong (the US), to weak (most of Europe) to excluded (Switzerland). The most successful and innovative pharma companies who were outspending everyone else on R&D were from Switzerland. Patentability of pharmaceuticals suddenly gave US companies a big boost and was really a lobbying success, so they managed to gain strong market positions without much innovation.