Slashdot: Report Says Patents Prevent New Drugs

[Petter Reinholdtsen]

Fant <URL:http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/12/21/0530228.shtml> på
slashdot, som nevner en interessant rapport:

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[1]. 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.""

 1 http://www.acsblog.org/ip-and-tech-law-report-patent-law-stifles-drug-innovation.html

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Vennlig hilsen,
-- 
Petter Reinholdtsen
Leder i NUUG