skip to main |
skip to sidebar
One technique in the world of pharma that has started appearing here
on Techdirt is "evergreening" -- making small changes to a drug, often
about to come off patent, in order to gain a new patent that extends its
manufacturer's control over it. The advantages for pharma companies
are evident, but what about the public? What economic impact does evergreening have? That's what a fascinating new paper in the open access journal PLoS Medicine seeks to establish:
On
Techdirt.
A few weeks back, we wrote about the Indian Supreme Court's rejection of Novartis's attempt to use "evergreening"
to prolong its patent on Gleevec, sold as Glivec in India. That term
refers to the trick of making small changes to a drug, usually one about
to come off patent, in order to gain a new monopoly that extends its
manufacturer's control over a medicine. But how does that work in
practice?
On
Techdirt.
Recently we wrote about how pharmaceutical companies use "evergreening"
to extend their control over drugs as the patents expire. But this is
also an issue for the world of agribusiness: a number of key patents,
particularly for traits of genetically-engineered (GE) organisms, will
be entering the public domain soon, and leading companies like Bayer,
BASF, Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta are naturally coming up with
their own "evergreening" methods.
On
Techdirt.
Posts
