It was interesting to see the reaction from non-Pharma background people.
If anyone has time please watch the 2013 documentary:
Home Page | Fire in the Blood to get a layman's insight.
Big Pharma is the nickname given to the pharmaceutical industry. It basically constitutes of the top 15 Pharmaceutical companies of the world which "market" around 90-95% of the world's pharmaceutical output by value.
Big Pharma along with Big Tobacco and liquor have been the fastest growing organisations in the last 6 decades.
They have managed to overtake Big Oil easily in pure growth and combined market cap.
Companies like Novartis, Pfizer, GSK have powers beyond imagination.
and yes....they do play GOD very often.
I have done my Bachelors in Pharmaceutical Technology and know this side of strategy a bit, since we were taught those in final year.
After 2000 new API(Active pharmaceutical ingredient) discovery has stagnated. The easiest way to ensure patent regime windfalls by Big Pharma is to:
- Sponsor a promising molecule development (almost ready for Phase 1 trials or past it) from say Johns Hopkins or Georgia tech.
- Put a lot of money in Phase 2 and start lobbying for it simultaneously.
- The patent would be shared with the company
- If it clears for phase 3, the company buys the patent making the developing team rich
- Tampering of data is the name of the game in phase 3. If the concern is not fatality but something else, the legal time will work overtime to see if any class action suit might come up in future.
- If everything clicks...viola...you have a BLOCKBUSTER...generating atleast $1 Billion a yearfor the next 20 years. Guaranteed CASH FLOW
Path 2:
This one gets more media attention. Just replace the university team with a Biotech startup!
MultiBrief: Big Pharma replaces innovation with acquisition
These Two Drug Innovators Are on Big Pharma’s Acquisition List | Tech & Innovation Daily | Life Inside the INNOVATION Pipeline
If the government feels that saving lives is important, then they can form an agreement with the foreign drug companies to legally manufacture the drug locally, while providing a mutually-agreed compensation to the original developers.
It does happen. However there hasn't been a single such instance in India when the drug concerned is a life-saving drug v.i.z. Oncology drug or a Retroviral therapy.
Besides I hope you are aware of the patent regime change in India after the Supreme court ruling.
The Supreme Court defends India’s right to deny patents to incremental improvements. (A cheap trick)
How is it played?
Lets say the molecule is ABCDEFGHIJKL - CHO a primary aldehyde molecule.
When the patent is up for expiry, the company will do a lot of trial on adding an alcohol or ketone group somewhere in the molecule and claim it to be more effective thus requesting the renewal of the patent.
The above is JUST PLAIN CHEATING!
The reapplication of Glivec was just greedy!
GOI had a discussion with Bayer over Nexavar for 6 months. Bayer simply said..we don't bargain.
GOI let NATCO to make copies
Drug patents: A fool’s game | The Economist
The price of a product doesn't depend on the cost of manufacture alone. The Windows CD that you buy costs maybe 3 cents, to make, but the retail price includes the investment that the company made developing the product.
The pharma industry doesn't compete amongst their own....unlike software...or even hardware.
I personally don't think this comparison sticks.
PS. I do agree that the pricing of pharma companies is sometimes predatory. That's partly because they need to raise billions to fund the development of their next drug.
Most of them have huge cash piles when compared to their revenue. It doesn't work that way.
Bayer invested $3 Billion for Nexavar over a period of 6 years.....
As I wrote above, the government should ink an agreement whereby the foreign companies are compensated adequately, and local companies can produce the drug under license.
Tamiflu zindabad!
