Actually protecting an invention and innovation is paramount . In the pharmaceutical industry patent protection is fundamental .Generics have grown more and more and patents are the only protection . Patents secure investment , create exclusivity and can disrupt competitor products .During the drug discovery and development phase all the data is protectable. Compounds still can get 25 years protection and follow on patents can extent protection .In the last 5 years not much seems to have happened !
Patents are just one piece of a complex cocktail of different ingredients . It also needs to evolve with the business strategy. But is this really relevant to the pharma industry when the composition of matter patent remains the same . Not really . I guess things have not really changed , we can talk about the strategy , we can streamline the process but basically it’s just a process that follows a basic recipe and does not change . Like getting the car serviced you have to do it , it’s always the same and not the place for creativity ………….. or not ??
Universities should have a different approach. It should be their mission to spread knowledge ( open source) for the benefit of society against protection and commercial gains . But pretty much the process in unversities are the same as the companies . Just patent the idea ,protect and commercialise .
How can we can get that feeling of open sourcing into Pharma ! There must be a more disruptive approach to protecting ideas and innovation whilst opening up the ideas to a wider community
To be continued ……..