Instead of patents - prize pool
The American economist Joseph Stiglitz (Joseph Stiglitz) received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 for theoretical research on “analyzing markets with asymmetric information,” that is, markets in which some participants have more information than others. Professor at Columbia University, Ph.D., he is also known as a critic of liberal reforms in Russia .
However, Stiglitz's latest thoughts are not connected with Russia, but concern the world patent system. The professor took pharmaceutical patents as an example. In his article "Scrooge and Intellectual Property Rights", he shows with concrete examples the damage that the greed of corporations harms humanity.
We all remember the hero of the children's cartoon Scrooge MacDuck, whose main feature was greed. Imagine that Scrooge would get a monopoly on the manufacture of a drug that could be monopolized to sell to sick people. It is terrible to imagine, but such is the situation in the modern pharmaceutical industry.
In the field of intellectual property on medicines, the situation with patents is clarified to crystal clearness, because it is immediately obvious how mercantile interests of corporations lead to the death of people.
')
We tolerate the patent system only because the benefits of it, it seems to us, exceed the harm. Like, it stimulates innovation, so that ultimately contributes to progress. But let's see how innovation contributes to the fact that the American corporation has patented the therapeutic properties of turmeric , although this plant has been healing people for hundreds of years. Now poor people in the same India will start paying an American company for medicines.
The World Trade Association is increasing its influence and extending the American style of the patent system to all countries of the world, so that they all begin to pay the main copyright owner, America.
Pharmaceutical giants receive billions of dollars in royalties. For example, the annual set of drugs for the treatment of AIDS could cost about $ 130, while the "brand", protected by patents, versions of these drugs cost about $ 10,000. Millions of patients who live for $ 2–3 per day cannot afford to spend $ 10,000 on drugs.
Another example. The international non-commercial project of deciphering the human genome did its job within the specified period, but still there were several corporations that deciphered individual parts of the genome a little faster than scientists. They immediately patented gene drugs, including cancer. Naturally, the cost of these drugs will be high. Not all patients can afford to buy them. Yes, mankind has received drugs a few months earlier, but the harm from this is much more than good.
The medical prize pool would be an excellent alternative to the patent system, Stiglitz believes. This fund can pay large rewards for inventing important medicines that are needed by millions of people, as well as small rewards for simpler medicines.
Contributions to the prize fund can be paid by governments of developed countries, as well as charitable organizations. They are now spending huge amounts of money to help the third world. A medical foundation would make this help more effective.
However, Stiglitz's latest thoughts are not connected with Russia, but concern the world patent system. The professor took pharmaceutical patents as an example. In his article "Scrooge and Intellectual Property Rights", he shows with concrete examples the damage that the greed of corporations harms humanity.
We all remember the hero of the children's cartoon Scrooge MacDuck, whose main feature was greed. Imagine that Scrooge would get a monopoly on the manufacture of a drug that could be monopolized to sell to sick people. It is terrible to imagine, but such is the situation in the modern pharmaceutical industry.
In the field of intellectual property on medicines, the situation with patents is clarified to crystal clearness, because it is immediately obvious how mercantile interests of corporations lead to the death of people.
')
We tolerate the patent system only because the benefits of it, it seems to us, exceed the harm. Like, it stimulates innovation, so that ultimately contributes to progress. But let's see how innovation contributes to the fact that the American corporation has patented the therapeutic properties of turmeric , although this plant has been healing people for hundreds of years. Now poor people in the same India will start paying an American company for medicines.
The World Trade Association is increasing its influence and extending the American style of the patent system to all countries of the world, so that they all begin to pay the main copyright owner, America.
Pharmaceutical giants receive billions of dollars in royalties. For example, the annual set of drugs for the treatment of AIDS could cost about $ 130, while the "brand", protected by patents, versions of these drugs cost about $ 10,000. Millions of patients who live for $ 2–3 per day cannot afford to spend $ 10,000 on drugs.
Another example. The international non-commercial project of deciphering the human genome did its job within the specified period, but still there were several corporations that deciphered individual parts of the genome a little faster than scientists. They immediately patented gene drugs, including cancer. Naturally, the cost of these drugs will be high. Not all patients can afford to buy them. Yes, mankind has received drugs a few months earlier, but the harm from this is much more than good.
The medical prize pool would be an excellent alternative to the patent system, Stiglitz believes. This fund can pay large rewards for inventing important medicines that are needed by millions of people, as well as small rewards for simpler medicines.
Contributions to the prize fund can be paid by governments of developed countries, as well as charitable organizations. They are now spending huge amounts of money to help the third world. A medical foundation would make this help more effective.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/4897/
All Articles