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Unpredictability In Patent Law And Its Effect On Pharmaceutical Innovation, Christopher M. Holman

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In recent years, the major innovator pharmaceutical companies have experienced two pronounced and significant trends: a decreasing output of innovative new drugs and cutbacks in research and development (R&D) investment. The two phenomena probably are not unrelated and raise significant concerns for a society intent upon providing affordable health care for an aging population. While the root causes of these trends are complex and diverse, we should not overlook the critical role patents play in creating the necessary incentives for the substantial investment required to develop pharmaceutically-interesting chemical compounds into actual drugs and to take them through the clinical trials …