All patents are 17 years

17 years is defensible but endless patent [link|http://home.cwru.edu/activism/READ/WP032502.html|extensions] are not.

"To me, profit is not a dirty word, but you've also got to play by the rules," said South Dakota Gov. William J. Janklow, a Republican running for Congress. "What the drug companies are doing is obvious. They get to the very end of a patent, then change the color or throw in an inert ingredient and claim they need a new patent."

In the past two years, Bristol-Myers Squibb has stalled the market debut of generic versions of its diabetes medication Glucophage, the anti-anxiety drug BuSpar and cancer therapies Platinol and Taxol, say the researchers for the Business for Affordable Medicine coalition.

In the case of Prilosec, AstraZeneca argues it is strictly following the provisions of the law, first taking advantage of the pediatric exclusivity and then suing Andrx Corp. for what it believes are patent violations. "We have not taken advantage of any loopholes in Hatch-Waxman," company spokeswoman Rachel Bloom-Baglin said. The case is pending in a New York court.

Post #73,006 by ben_tilly 1/6/03 4:28:23 PM Reply	All patents are 17 years And given the costs of the research piplines, biotech is one of the few places where that figure seems defensible IMHO. Cheers, Ben "Career politicians are inherently untrustworthy; if it spends its life buzzing around the outhouse, it\ufffds probably a fly." - [link\|http://www.nationalinterest.org/issues/58/Mead.html\|Walter Mead]
Post #73,011 by a6l6e6x 1/6/03 4:48:04 PM Reply	Re: defensible? 17 years is defensible but endless patent [link\|http://home.cwru.edu/activism/READ/WP032502.html\|extensions] are not. "To me, profit is not a dirty word, but you've also got to play by the rules," said South Dakota Gov. William J. Janklow, a Republican running for Congress. "What the drug companies are doing is obvious. They get to the very end of a patent, then change the color or throw in an inert ingredient and claim they need a new patent." In the past two years, Bristol-Myers Squibb has stalled the market debut of generic versions of its diabetes medication Glucophage, the anti-anxiety drug BuSpar and cancer therapies Platinol and Taxol, say the researchers for the Business for Affordable Medicine coalition. In the case of Prilosec, AstraZeneca argues it is strictly following the provisions of the law, first taking advantage of the pediatric exclusivity and then suing Andrx Corp. for what it believes are patent violations. "We have not taken advantage of any loopholes in Hatch-Waxman," company spokeswoman Rachel Bloom-Baglin said. The case is pending in a New York court. Alex "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session."\t-- Mark Twain
Post #73,017 by ben_tilly 1/6/03 5:20:00 PM Reply	Agreed "Career politicians are inherently untrustworthy; if it spends its life buzzing around the outhouse, it\ufffds probably a fly." - [link\|http://www.nationalinterest.org/issues/58/Mead.html\|Walter Mead]

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