UCLA Researcher Finds Big Pharma Makes Billions From Patent Protections

Pharmaceutical companies protect their profits on drugs they create by filing for patent protections with the U.S. government. This ensures that manufacturers not only cover their research and development costs but enjoy a period – often more than a decade – of monopoly markets.

But that’s not enough for Big Pharma. Charu Gupta, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, found pharmaceutical companies gained an extra three years of monopoly markets by filing secondary patents. Common types of secondary patents can include things like how a drug is administered, what disease it will treat and dosing.

What does it mean to patients?

Gupta estimates these “exclusivity extensions” cost patients, insurance companies and other drug buyers about $148 million per drug by delaying competition with less-expensive generics. She analyzed 355 brand-name drugs and found secondary patents raised consumer costs by $52.6 billion.

Yep. That’s billion with a B.

Over the years, Congress has introduced legislation aimed at tightening the rules governing drug patents. Axios reports that the issue is once again capturing attention in Washington, D.C. Drugmakers and their lobbyists are pushing back, arguing that the majority of prescriptions filled are lower-cost generics.

What do you think? Is it time to overhaul the drug-patenting system and Big Pharma’s monopoly control of U.S. drug costs? Share your thoughts (and your selfies) with Voices for Affordable Health.