Everyone knows that big pharma has always been allowed by the FDA to skip around the patent laws, keeping their brand name medication on the market longer and delaying price relief to the general public by keeping generic alternatives off the market.
Generally, drug manufacturers are allowed to slightly change their existing drugs just enough to allow them to receive a new patent from the FDA. This practice in no way helps the American public. It is simply about making more money.
Although this practice has never been challenged, a recent Supreme Court ruling is making it tougher for companies to protect product monopolies through bogus patent extentions.
Report From CNN:
The waves from a Supreme Court decision that undermines patents on gas pedals could hit Big Pharma like a truck, say some experts…
The Supreme Court ruled that a patent held by Teleflex Inc. combined two previously existing inventions: an adjustable pedal and a electronic throttle control. The combined product was too “obvious” to be considered a new patent, according to the ruling.
“Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation retards progress and may, for patents combining previously known elements, deprive prior inventions of their value or utility,” read the ruling.
By no means does this mean that big pharma will automatically stop manipulating the patent system for their personal welfare, but it is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
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