Donald Trump can Tame the Big Pharma Monster by Reforming Compound Claims Patent Law

Me thinks he has the will, and the balls, to do it, too!!!

Stop Big Pharma Gaming Patent Laws and Save Millions of Lives

The following is taken from a petition I raised in 2017. Years before, I had concluded, and written about how big pharma companies shed all their physical assets to gamble on patented molecules, presenting them with blockbuster monopoly profits (as depicted by the guy in the cartoon):

“Pharmaceutical patent laws are archaic, and they’re unashamedly gamed by pharmaceutical companies. The big pharma companies apply for patents on the ‘idea’ that one molecule 'might' treat a disease. No proof needed, merely a rough idea. In fact, only one in every 250 drugs that enter development are  approved for sale. That means of the $2.6 billion big pharma claims it take to develop a drug, around $2 billion is wasted.

Not me saying that, it's the US Government Accountability Office, in its Report:

NEW DRUG DEVELOPMENT: Science, Business, Regulatory, and Intellectual Property Issues Cited as Hampering Drug Development Efforts” Report to Congressional Requesters.

That's gold standard evidence folks.

...and it's not just the money. Billions of animals are culled too, in the relentless search to find blockbuster drugs (annual sales => $1 billion). 

This is a 90-second video I did to explain the issues for a Kickstarter bid.

In the wake of SARS-CoV-2, so many are now aware of the pharmaceutical business model that puts patents ahead of patients, no matter what the cost in human life.

In summary, if 'compound claims' patent law remains unchanged, all that is wrong with the last four years is set to continue. There is a solution. It is to revert back to the time (before 1980) when a company had to prove they could manufacture a safe and effective drug at the scale required. Being able to make a few grams in a test tube will not cut the mustard.

There would have to be major consultation of course to be sure it worked, and the starting point would be an inquiry set up by politicians. This is something I prepared earlier (November 2017 in fact!)

"Pharmaceutical companies use patent law to create monopolies/oligopolies to deliver super-normal profits, with minimum application of internal resources. The reference 
Patients not patents recounts how this works against the interests of healthcare stakeholders in the UK, EU and indeed, global healthcare systems.

There has been a dramatic change in pharmaceutical company strategy since the early 1980’s. Prior to this, patents were not sought until a feasible manufacturing process for the medicine had been established. However, subsequently, companies have been patenting molecular compounds, rather than the process of manufacture, with major consequences as outlined below."

To finish off, many of us feel hugely frustrated over the lack of action in bringing this whole sorry SARS-CoV-2 injections tale to an end. Signing this petition will be a way of making your protest, and sharing it will raise the awareness that's needed too.

Remember the ancient Chinese proverb, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." 

Let's take that step!!! Give us your autograph!

This is the link to the petition:

Stop Big Pharma Gaming Patent Laws and Save Millions of Lives

It has 1098 signatures to date.

Those with a paid subscription can see this previous post in the archives:

Politicians need to get Inside Pharma if they want to reduce the insane cost of drugs

It reveals:

“Senators question three Big Pharma CEOs, with no impact

In the FiercePharma article PBMs take bulk of blame as senators question BMS, J&J and Merck CEOs on high drug prices in US, we hear:

“U.S., Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, put the leaders on the defensive by citing their compensation and then referring to hundreds of needy cancer patients who had set up GoFundMe pages in hopes of collecting contributions to pay for their drugs. You made $52 million in total compensation in 2022,” Sanders said to Merck CEO Robert Davis. “Will you commit to not accepting a single dollar more in compensation until there is not a single GoFundMe page for Keytruda?”

With all due respect to Senator Sanders, these are empty words that will do nothing. Only bold action will work, and that is to remove the instrument by which they make their billions - patenting molecules without any evidence they can become a safe, effective drug.

Stay with me on this folks, and if you happen to know Donald Trump, send him my way :O).

Cheers, Hedley