are patents impeding medical care and innovation专利阻碍医疗和创新.pdf

The PLoS Medicine Debate 1 Are Patents Impeding Medical Care and Innovation? 1 2 3 4 5 E. Richard Gold *, Warren Kaplan *, James Orbinski *, Sarah Harland-Logan , Sevil N-Marandi 1 Faculty of Law, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2 Department of International Health, The Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 3 St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 4 Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, 5 University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada Whether this cost is offset by other benefits is a subject I turn to Background to the debate: Pharmaceutical and medical next. device manufacturers argue that the current patent system is crucial for stimulating research and develop- How Is The Prospect of Obtaining Patent Rights ment (RD), leading to new products that improve Impeding Medical Care and Innovation? medical care. The financial return on their investments The theory underlying patent rights is that patents encourage that is afforded by patent protection, they claim, is an people to invest in bringing a compound through clinical trials and incentive toward innovation and reinvestment into into practice [5,6]. The prospect of future patents may, therefore, further RD. But this view has been challenged in recent