Assessing the Current Pharmaceutical Patent System in the United States

Assessing the Current Pharmaceutical Patent System in the United States

Presenter(s)

Ivy Ayitey, Augustine James Boehnlein

Comments

Presentation: 1:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m., Kennedy Union Ballroom

This project reflects research conducted as part of a course project designed to give students experience in the research process.

Course: CAP 308

Description

In the last couple of decades, one of the major crises that continues to plague healthcare is the rising costs of medications (Rajkumar, 2020). While it could be argued that pharmaceutical companies are at fault for these high costs, the standards of the current patent system that these companies follow allow such price gouging to continue (Rajkumar, 2020). The current patent system is meant to spur innovation while still allowing competition by securing short-term monopolies for new medications (Feldman, 2018). However, pharmaceutical companies are finding loopholes in the current system to extend their monopolies on current drugs to increase future revenue (Feldman, 2018). Such practices are called “evergreening” and explain why “78% of the drugs associated with new patents in the FDA’s records were not new drugs coming on the market, but existing drugs” (Feldman, 2018). Both Feldman (2018) and Gøtzsche (2018) argue that these practices are hurting innovation and the future of healthcare, which is why alternative models such as the not-for-profit model, increased transparency, Ruthless Simplification, and One-and-Done policies have been offered. The purpose of this poster is to outline the current patent system in place, detail the system’s problems, and describe proposed solutions.

Publication Date

4-20-2022

Project Designation

Course Project

Primary Advisor

Kathleen C. Scheltens

Primary Advisor's Department

Premedical Programs

Keywords

Stander Symposium project, College of Arts and Sciences

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being

Assessing the Current Pharmaceutical Patent System in the United States

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