3. What is a patent?
• A patent is a set of exclusive
rights granted by a state to an
inventor or their assignee for a
limited period of time in
exchange for a public
disclosure of an invention.
• The exclusive right granted to a
patentee is to prevent others
from making, using, selling, or
distributing the patented
invention without permission
4. Why is it so expensive to
develop drugs?
• Scientists need to be
trained and paid
• Labs and research
facilities need to be
maintained
• Drugs must be tested
and monitored before
use
• Only a small proportion
of drugs developed will
be deemed sufficiently
safe and effective to be
sold for profit
5. Criticisms of patents
• Patents prevent generic alternatives to
enter the market - thus maintains high
prices for medication. Developing
countries, as those who are most in
need of basic essential medicines are
unable to afford such high priced
pharmaceuticals.
• Critics also question that pharmaceutical
companies need to recoup the large
investments needed for research and
development. One study concluded that
marketing expenditures for new drugs
often doubled the amount that was
allocated for research and development.
6. In defence of Transnationals
• In one response to these criticisms, one
review concluded that less than 5
percent of medicines on the World
Health Organisation’s list of essential
drugs are under patent.
• Also, the pharmaceutical industry has
contributed US$2 billion for healthcare
in developing countries, providing
HIV/AIDS drugs at lower cost or even
free of charge in certain countries, and
has used differential pricing to provide
medication to the poor (Merck in
Botswana with the Bill and Linda Gates
Foundation
