Sanders wants to take a bite out of drug patent laws!

[farreri]

The current patent system is in need of reform.

Businesses rely on the U.S. patent system to protect their innovations from being copied by competitors, but this system is being abused in several ways by large corporations. Bernie recognizes that in some industries, the way the patent system is structured has the effect of stifling innovation, and in the case of the pharmaceutical industry has proposed a solution to this problem.

http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-small-business-and-entrepreneurship/

Fighting to Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Prohibit the United States from agreeing to provisions in international trade deals that would raise drug prices in the United States or extend the monopoly period when a brand name drug company has no generic competition.

https://berniesanders.com/issues/fighting-to-lower-prescription-drug-prices/

Bernie Sanders' Most Radical Idea Is One He Almost Never Mentions
(The presidential hopeful is harder on Big Pharma than he is on Wall Street.)

He has spent more than a decade collaborating with an obscure think tank on a plan to remake the entire pharmaceutical industry by ending patent protection for new drugs.

A straightforward patent gives firms 20 years of competition-free pricing. A host of other intellectual property maneuvers -- blocking access to scientific test data, filing for fresh patents when a new use or slight improvement is discovered -- can allow companies to stretch this period out even longer.

Love and Sander's solution is to replace drug patents -- which grant pharma companies years of monopoly profits -- with simple financial prizes.

Hillary Clinton has shown no interest in reforming the drug patent system.

the United Nations is scheduled to hold a high-profile international conference on alternatives to the existing drug patent system. Changing the business model of the most profitable industry in the world is still part of Sanders' campaign platform. Maybe it's just too radical for a stump speech.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...8b9e4b03260bf77e6b9?utm_hp_ref=bernie-sanders

#Feelingthebernalittle(butnotmuch)



Oh get this...

Sanders Asks VA to Break Patents on Gilead and AbbVie Hep C Drugs

It would be unusual for the federal government to seek to break a patent held by a drug maker. Sanders, though, notes that the George W. Bush Administration persuaded Bayer to cut the price on its Cipro antibiotic in 2001 after letters laced with anthrax were mailed to Capitol Hill and media outlets.

http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015...eak-patents-on-gilead-and-abbvie-hep-c-drugs/

Only when fascist politicians are affected do they tell their corporate sponsors to cut prices on patented products!

 

[Danke]

Bernie should just nationalize those industries.

 

[angelatc]

Bernie should just nationalize those industries.

Exactly. That way the profit incentive is taken entirely out of the equation, and people can finally get busy working for the Common Good.

 

[ZENemy]

what sanders WANTS is power, what he'll do is....acquire more power.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Ending patent protection generally is a very libertarian thing. This is the only thing I agree with teh Bern on ATM.

 

[misterx]

If you're going to do that you need to remove all fda regulations first, otherwise no one will produce any new drugs.

 

[farreri]

This is the only thing I agree with teh Bern on ATM.

Legalize marijuana?
Prosecute crooked cops?
Stop mandatory minimums?
Don't get us in foreign entanglements?

 

[farreri]

If you're going to do that you need to remove all fda regulations first, otherwise no one will produce any new drugs.

But it's the drug companies who don't want that! Why encourage competition?!

 

[misterx]

But it's the drug companies who don't want that! Why encourage competition?!

Well, the drug companies are supporting the 21st Century Cures Act.

 

[angelatc]

Ending patent protection generally is a very libertarian thing. This is the only thing I agree with teh Bern on ATM.

However, patent protections are Constitutional. So here we have Bernie threatening to take away a Constitutional right. COuple that with his position on CItizens United, and this is trouble.

 

[farreri]

However, patent protections are Constitutional. So here we have Bernie threatening to take away a Constitutional right.

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"
http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec8.html

 

[misterx]

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"
http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec8.html

Drug patents are good for twenty years. That qualifies as a limited time.

 

[farreri]

Drug patents are good for twenty years. That qualifies as a limited time.

So would 50 years for that matter.

Btw, why is it the government's job to "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts"? Why should scientists and artists get special government protection?!

 

[misterx]

So would 50 years for that matter.

Btw, why is it the government's job to "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts"? Why should scientists and artists get special government protection?!

IDK Ask Madison. I think twenty years is a reasonable time frame to spur innovation.

 

[angelatc]

So would 50 years for that matter.

Btw, why is it the government's job to "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts"? Why should scientists and artists get special government protection?!

According to Tom Woods, it was because the Founders watched inventors starving in the old country.

 

[farreri]

IDK Ask Madison. I think twenty years is a reasonable time frame to spur innovation.

But in this section of the constitution, it says "The Congress shall have Power To..." which I take to mean it's authorized that the federal government can do it, but doesn't have to.

 

[farreri]

According to Tom Woods, it was because the Founders watched inventors starving in the old country.

Who didn't starve back then?! But seriously, if that's the reason, the Founders should have been transparent about it and wrote "So Scientists and Artists don't starve..."

 

[jbauer]

The medical system is broken including the way prescription drugs are brought to market, the frequency they're subscribed and the way the consumer pays for the R&D.

If we don't figure it out the entire system is going to get nationalized.

 

[farreri]

The medical system is broken including the way prescription drugs are brought to market, the frequency they're subscribed and the way the consumer pays for the R&D.

If we don't figure it out the entire system is going to get nationalized.

Well the Republican party isn't helping much when it seems like they only want to repeal Obamacare.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Well the Republican party isn't helping much when it seems like they only want to repeal Obamacare.

Well, it was a Republican idea to begin with. (h/t Romney)