Evergreening prescription drugs keeping prices high
The OECD nations are challenged with the burgeoning cost of funding medication bills for baby boomers who are now moving from mid life to old age.
There are no simple answers, but fewer younger workers are now being asked to shoulder a greater welfare burden in countries with national health systems. While in countries like USA, the retirees are having to find the money themselves, if they can not afford a good medical insurance plan.
One idea is to lower the cost of medications. Supporting this drive is the fact that in countries like the USA, significant barriers exist to the entry of cheaper generic medications. The common practice of "evergreening" patents on minor changes holds up the introduction of competing generic medications that are often under 30% of the price of the brand medication.
EverGreening is a practice of extending a patent by 5 years on the basis of a change in formulation. Often these changes are spurious in their improvements and are simply a subterfuge to unreasonably extend the patent life.
Drug companies justify "evergreening" patents by claiming that they need to recover the cost for research. However, records in the public domain show that a very small portion of drug comapny revenue is invested in patent developments. This is particularly, true compared to the money invested in marketing, public realtions and promotions campaigns.
So the arguement to promote generic pills and medications needs to gain more prominence if we are to reduce welfare costs. The need to spend less on promotion and more on research to justify the high mark up on medication is another important agenda item for Governments.
To compare costs of generic medication to brand name you only need to visit online comparison sites to see the massive savings available. One example is a site: http://www.best-rx-pharmacy.com/ that compares generic Soma (a pain relief pill) with the brand name product. The brand name product, first released 2 decades ago is more than twice the price.
Supporters of intellectual property laws need to recognize the problems with the current system, such as innovators who seek to prolong patent protections against the public best interest. Governments must also recognize the understandable backlash when an aggressive and litigious strategy by a big drug company to expand the coverage of patents is perceived as an effort to prevent new competitors from entering the market.
The debate will innevitably be decided by consumer demand and the ability to pay for unfairly or unreasonably prolonged patents.
There are no simple answers, but fewer younger workers are now being asked to shoulder a greater welfare burden in countries with national health systems. While in countries like USA, the retirees are having to find the money themselves, if they can not afford a good medical insurance plan.
One idea is to lower the cost of medications. Supporting this drive is the fact that in countries like the USA, significant barriers exist to the entry of cheaper generic medications. The common practice of "evergreening" patents on minor changes holds up the introduction of competing generic medications that are often under 30% of the price of the brand medication.
EverGreening is a practice of extending a patent by 5 years on the basis of a change in formulation. Often these changes are spurious in their improvements and are simply a subterfuge to unreasonably extend the patent life.
Drug companies justify "evergreening" patents by claiming that they need to recover the cost for research. However, records in the public domain show that a very small portion of drug comapny revenue is invested in patent developments. This is particularly, true compared to the money invested in marketing, public realtions and promotions campaigns.
So the arguement to promote generic pills and medications needs to gain more prominence if we are to reduce welfare costs. The need to spend less on promotion and more on research to justify the high mark up on medication is another important agenda item for Governments.
To compare costs of generic medication to brand name you only need to visit online comparison sites to see the massive savings available. One example is a site: http://www.best-rx-pharmacy.com/ that compares generic Soma (a pain relief pill) with the brand name product. The brand name product, first released 2 decades ago is more than twice the price.
Supporters of intellectual property laws need to recognize the problems with the current system, such as innovators who seek to prolong patent protections against the public best interest. Governments must also recognize the understandable backlash when an aggressive and litigious strategy by a big drug company to expand the coverage of patents is perceived as an effort to prevent new competitors from entering the market.
The debate will innevitably be decided by consumer demand and the ability to pay for unfairly or unreasonably prolonged patents.
posted by Clive Wallace at 2:12 AM
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