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Report Says Patents Prevent New Drugs
An anonymous reader writes "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.""
One example is Claritin vs. Clarinex. (Both are anti-histamines that don't cause drowsiness in most people). Claritin was a cash cow for Schering-Plough whose patent expired a few years ago. It used to be prescription-only and the cost used was around $1 a pill. Now you can buy 300-ct bottles over-the-counter at CostCo for ~ $10.00.
Enter Clarinex, which Schering claims is certified for both indoor and outdoor allergies. Once again, it's a prescription-only medication with high prices. The punch line: Clarinex is exactly the same drug as Claritin after Claritin passes through your liver once. There are tons of examples like this, where drug companies change the chemical formulation only slightly, usually in inactive places of the molecule (i.e. the "business end" that interacts with the target enzymes is unchanged). Why new formulations like this are granted patents is beyond me.
Try the japanese system - you get two years to exploit an idea with protection from so that no one else can use your idea in that time.
At the end of those two years, if you are actively exploiting the idea in a business you can get another 1 year of protection and thats it
The principal is that if a 3 year head start on your own idea isnt enough to get you established in the market then you should probably let someone else do it anyway rather than stifle future innovation
(companies also have to keep their R&D far more secure under this system and they only usually patent just prior to launching to market - this in turns requires a much faster and streamlined patent application system)
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> I realize that making drugs (or any other product, for that matter) requires research and testing, etc., and manufacturers need to recoup that money spent. Plus, profits from a block-buster drug go into funding expensive research on drugs that can only target a very small portion of the population.
Actually (according to various news outlets over the past several years), these companies spend ten dollars on marketing for every dollar they spend on research.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Exactly. I'm a clerk in a pharmacy and on a particularly non-busy night we were all talking with the pharmacist about this sort of thing. He gave an example of some company which came out with Drug X (can't remember which one). As the patent on Drug X was about to expire, they created "Drug X Gel Capsule... better than before!!!" Of course, doctors, not really knowing, started prescribing the new X Gel Capsule, which had a new patent and thus no generic (and by this point, the original X's patent had expired and had cheaper generics).
Well, the pharmacist pulled out one of the new X Gel Capsules. Guess what it was? Just the original Drug X encased in a gel cap. That's it. A regular pill in a gel cap.
Omnes stulti sunt.
Then why are teeth different? It's common for United States residents to have their teeth cleaned by a professional hygienist and looked at by a dentist (doctor of dental surgery) twice per year.
If a new drug comes out that offers no additional benefit, but has patent protection, WHY DOESN'T THE CONSUMER BUY THE GENERIC?Because as I understand it, new drugs rarely offer "no additional benefit". For instance, Allegra (fexofenadine hydrochloride) is less toxic to the heart than Seldane (terfenadine), and Cialis (tadalafil) lasts longer in the body than Viagra (sildenafil citrate). The ADD medication Strattera (atomoxetine), a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, has the advantage over the previous standby Ritalin (methylphenidate) that reuptake inhibitors are an indirect stimulant and thus take longer (two weeks) to start working. This may sound like a disadvantage, but unlike amphetamine style stimulants, reuptake inhibitors does not lend themselves to abuse and are not scheduled as controlled substances. But you may be right about Nexium (esomeprazole magnesium) vs. Prilosec (racemic omeprazole magnesium), as it appears that the biggest difference is the dosage: Nexium is prescribed at higher doses than Prilosec was.