Drug Patents and Generics

The problem is that even if there are alternative ways, it's not always profitable to find them. One clear example is drug prices. The price to manufacture a drug is tiny compared to the cost to develop a new one, so of someone has a patent on a drug that cures a disease, it's not worth anyone else's time to develop a different drug. Getting your drug approved will take years (for good reason), and at the end, you have a product that competes with another company, where instead yo

The company has only 4 more years of patent exclusivity in the US, and 3 more years in Europe. If there is really SO MUCH MONEY to be made by selling it, wouldn't we expect other companies to be developing their own version right now, so they can sell it in 2021. And wouldn't the presence of many different sellers reduce the price? [1] End result, new drug that benefits patients, at steadily lower prices... isn't that what we want? Is there some reason to think that other companie

Once the old substances patent expires, any drug company can produce generics. There is no incentive to ignore patents and produce generics if the patent is expired because other companies will likely be producing generics, assuming there is actually a market for the drug.

no. the upfront costs for pharma development are prohibitive. the chances of a new molecule making it through clinical trials is really small.the economic crisis has put a lot of emphasis on efficacy for inclusion on various formulary schemes, be it private ones like in the US or state-run ones like in EU. now you need an approved product that is also not only marginally better than existing stuff. just takes away some nasty side effect? no reimbursement for you, pharma-economics trump

It depends. Sometimes it's simply more profitable to produce something else. Sometimes the market is too small to justify the bioequivalence studies. Sometimes the FDA mysteriously changes its mind on the safety of a drug the same day the patent expires [1].[1] http://www.npr.org/secti

You’re on the right track, but there’s a big difference between under patent and post-patent expiry drugs. Patents last 20 years, so if you invent a drug, patent it, then go through FDA approval, you can charge whatever price you want to recoup development cost until the patent expires. After the patent expires other firms can make ‘generic’ versions of the drug without having to license it. The goal with generics was traditionally take expensive patent drugs and make them more affordable whi

The patent system is what promotes R&D. Once your patents expire anyone can manufacture your drug without ever having done any of the initial work. Drug companies have a pipeline of new drugs going through the decade of studies and trials it takes to bring them to the market and the ongoing survival of the company depends on some of these being a success.Would love to see some of the people here crying about obscene profits try their hand at investing in pharma companies. Its an easy way

I think drugs are a big use case. They cost tons of money to develop, but once approved are incredibly easy for anyone to duplicate (Generics). Being able to recoup your investment is incentive.Of course they don’t work perfectly, as drugs off patent sometimes don’t see price reductions, but generally prices come down once off patent.

The trouble with backing generic drugs: even if they work, you don't make any money.

There should be some sort of government chartered corporation for generic drug manufacturing. After a drug patent expires, they review the drug, determine the manufacturing cost, and compare it to the market price for the drug. If the market price is above some multiple of the manufacturing cost, they set up their own production line and sell the drug at their cost.