Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
important than in the chemical, electrical equipment and
manufacturing industries (Mansfield, 1986). The study also showed
that the relative importance attached to patenting is not dependent
on firm size, but it is dependent on the amount of research and
development engaged in by a firm (Mansfield, 1986). That is, a
smaller, more innovative firm may rely on patents more than a larger
firm that is less innovative to secure market share.
In essence, patents are important to pharmaceutical companies
because it can be very expensive to conduct the research and
development necessary for creating new drugs (Grabowski, 2002).
The role of patent protection is to encourage this innovation, while
rewarding the innovators with exclusive market share in order to
recoup costs. Without this protection, an expensive drug may be
easily copied by imitators who do not incur the costs of research,
development and regulatory approval (Grabowski, 2002). Moreover,
the costs of new drug development are high because of the large
numbers of drug candidates that do not pass the pre-clinical phase
and the complexity and length of the clinical trial phase of testing
for regulatory approval (Grabowski, 2002). One study has shown
that the costs of developing a generic drug can be as low as half that
of the original costs of drug development (Grabowski, 2002).
Crucially, though, an important factor in a competitive pharmaceutical
industry is the capacity of patients to buy drugs. Critics argue that
aggressive marketing tactics by pharmaceutical companies have created
the biggest markets possible through a technique they label as 'disease
mongering', which means '… widening the boundaries of treatable
illness in order to expand markets for those who sell and deliver
treatments' (Moynihan et al., 2002), which is to say pharmaceutical
companies are criticized for creating products for symptoms previously
regarded as normal in order to create new market share (Moynihan
et al., 2002). Although this is an extreme view of how the relationship
between drug development and consumption practices might be
conceptualized, it does highlight an important point, namely that each
new product needs willing consumers.
For the pharmaceutical industry, the ideal form of drug development
is something that patients will have to take every day for a long time.
This model bridges the twin demands of a straightforward treatment
