Why are strong patent protections necessary?
Patent protection is directly related to the ability of companies to meet the medical needs of patients in developing countries around the world. Patent laws provide the legal and business framework within which companies are able to engage in the risky, time-consuming, expensive process of drug-discovery. To encourage risk and innovation, the patent system grants an inventor the exclusive right to manufacture, use or sell an invention for a limited period of time. A patent does not grant the inventor a monopoly on serving a market or performing a function. For example, new AIDS drugs – the second and third protease inhibitors, a breakthrough class of medicines – were introduced in March 1996, only three months after the first version’s debut. Experience shows that strong patent protection directly encourages pharmaceutical innovation. For example, in the decade after the enactment of the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, which provided limited market exclusivity and tax credits for drugs for s
