Let me put the importance of patents in perspective. The physical assets of any of our companies the bricks, the mortar, the inventory is a small fraction of the real value of our businesses. The rest is in our patents, our people, and the potential of the drug candidates in our pipeline. When you think of access, think of access to the medicines of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Think of access as access to those medicines which your doctor believes are the first choice for your medical needs.
Innovation is an absolutely vital element of access.
When you see this, you see that theft of our discoveries is wrong. And terrible for patients. It is ironic to think that the theft of our discoveries is often carried out under the false colors of patient access. The plight of patients in India where there are no pharmaceutical plants exposes the fallacy that the absence of patents leads to better healthcare. It also demonstrates that access certainly does not equate to price.