Medical Patent System
Establishing patents on medical market brings serious concerns regarding the ethical conduct of the owners of the patents and of the entire medical system which accepts them, actually. Creating a new drug, a new medicine, or a new medical procedure and registering it as a patent creates a monopoly on the medical market, which is contradictory to the free market that supports the competition, as it implies the existence of a single player on the market (Frank & Bernake, 2004).
In addition to this ethic related aspect for disapproving the current patent system on the medical market, there are others to consider, which regard the cost efficiency and the stimulation of the innovation. Therefore, while patents are viable because they confer the certainty that the new developed medicines will not be used for reversed causes and while developing new drugs is highly risky and expensive (“The Patent System”, 2004), registering innovative medical technologies as patents implies increasing the cost of the medicine. This implies that sick people, people who need medicine will pay more for them. The problem is much more serious when discussing about developing or underdeveloped countries, with an increased rate of poverty, where people cannot afford medicine.
References
Frank, R. & Bernake, B. (2004) Principles of economics brief edition. 2nd edition. McGraw – Hill Companies, Inc: United States.
Gold, R., Kaplan, W., Orbinski, J. Harland – Logan, S., Marandi, S.N. (2010) Are patents impeding medical care and innovation? Retrieved from http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000208.
The patent system and access to medicine in developing countries: possible cures (2004). Retrieved from http://lessig.org/blog/2004/10/the_patent_system_and_access_t_1.html.
