Do biopharmaceuticals get enough protection from government against threats to intellectual property from abroad?
Most responsible policy makers and legislators in Washington understand the value of the biopharmaceutical industry, which is overwhelmingly concentrated in the United States, and they understand that intellectual property is the bedrock of that industry. I’m more worried, though, about insidious things like importing some other country’s healthcare system, in effect—for example, importing drugs from Canada. That threatens the foundation of the industry. Unfortunately, Canadian drug prices also correspond to Canadian innovation in biopharmaceuticals, which is zilch. What about litigation? ‘I feel for our colleagues at Pfizer. They must be enormously disappointed, and I feel for the patients.’ It’s a gigantic threat. If you look at how much money Wyeth paid out in the Fen-phen case [the anti-obesity drug that combines fenfluramine and phentermine]; if you look at how much money Merck is spending [on Vioxx cases]. It’s not just our industry. Take asbestos. The list goes on. Clearly, the
