Pharma Blog Watch

Intellectual Property at Risk (DrugWonks)
In his entry, blogger Peter Pitts discusses an article in the Guardian about a new model for drug discovery aimed at dramatically lowering drug costs. According to the article, scientists have invented a way to change molecular structure of an existing drug, creating a new drug not covered by a company's 20-year patent. "The process has the potential to undermine the monopoly of the big drug companies and bring cheaper drugs not only to poor countries but back to the UK," the article says.

"How about this for a solution to drug prices — let's trash intellectual property rights. Now why haven't I thought of that before? I know — because it's a very bad idea for about 1,000 reasons with Reason #1 being that it would end pharmaceutical innovation and Reason #2 being it would seriously — very seriously — impact quality control," Pitts writes. "At the end of the day, you can call it anything you want, but what it boils down is cost-centric versus patient-centric medicine."