Importance of patents in incentivizing pharmaceutical research

In this argument we will first explain why patents are important in pharmaceutical research. Patents are a form of property protection that are necessary to ensure returns on the capital invested into inventions. Invention of new drugs requires an enormous investment of both intellectual and financial capital. However after a drug has been invented, then in the case of no patents, the company who invested into the research of the drug would have no advantage over other companies who might wish to produce that drug. The ability of the company to sell the drug wouldn't depend on whether the company invented it. This means that once the company has invented a drug it would have no ability to protect both the financial and intellectual capital it has invested into creating the drug. Invention of new drugs is capital intensive for three main reasons: 1. It takes a long time to develop new drugs. This is mainly because of government regulation, which requires companies to extensively test the drug before it is marketed so it would be safe for the consumers. In this case government is imposing costs on pharmaceutical companies, it would only be fair if by granting patent protection the government would allow companies to get their investments back. 2. Stemming from the definition of the term “patent”, patents enable the disclosure of innovations into the public domain for the common good. Without this protection, the inventor might prefer to keep the innovation as a secret (called a trade secret). The act of awarding a patent makes the details of the invention public, enabling further improvement by other inventors. Furthermore, being published on public records ensures that the patentee’s idea won’t be lost to humanity. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent#Effects]] 3. Pharmaceutical research is high risk. When starting work on a new drug there is no ability to tell if it will succeed. Many experimental drugs don't work or have adverse side-effects, however the company still has to cover their costs. Through trial and error process, effective drugs eventually emerge, but when they are sold by the company their cost has to include the cost of the failed drugs born by the company. This is because the company has to stay afloat, pay the salaries of it's scientists, secretaries, janitors. 4. In several industries (such as pharmaceuticals), once an invention exists, the cost of commercialization is far less than the initial cost of conception. Unless there is some way to prevent copies from competing at the marginal cost of production, companies will not make that productization investment and simply neglect their idea. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_and_patents]] Given this analysis we want to prove that patents are good and necessary in terms of encouraging research. Considering the amount of work and money companies put into research and the social good that comes out of the development of new drugs companies have the right to spread the cost of their research over the period of the patent. Governments have to ensure this right, otherwise why should the companies be expected to develop drugs, if they can't reap the fruits of their labor? Quite simply if governments don't provide patent protection companies won't conduct research. We think the proposition would agree with us that patents are generally necessary and important and that companies have a right to their inventions. Otherwise they would propose abolishing all pharmaceutical patents, but the motion states abolishing patents only on anti-retroviral drugs to fight AIDS.