Pharmaceutical firms and society depend on patent protection to foster the development of new drugs. Are they more of a hindrance or a help to the industry? In answering this question provide...

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Patent and its relation to Pharmaceutical firms and society:
Overview:
Patents are very critical to the pharmaceutical company as it safeguards the inventions of the company in terms of new drugs development that is used for clinical use in the developing and developed countries. Patents are a type of intellectual property right. These are also important as they help in recouping investments incu
ed during research and development, and marketing of the drug. Pharmaceutical firms-and society-depend on patent protection to foster the development of new drugs. But patents also raise prices and reduce access by delaying generic competition in the industry. The pharma companies come under the jurisdiction of various laws and regulations which takes care of the patenting, testing, efficiency and marketing of the drugs. The new drugs that are being invented and tested is released in the market for clinical use and has the ability to prolong life and cure to critical diseases to the people worldwide. Moreover, these patents in the society are very crucial for the drug makers as it guarantees them profit and make all the time and cost needed to develop and make the new drugs worthwhile.
Though it is still a discussion about the importance and need of patenting in the pharmaceutical firms and society as many feel it is very important while others feel Patents should be taken off. But overall the benefits overweigh the negatives in the pharma industry. Patents protect the companies form competition by safeguarding the competition form marketing and selling similar drugs or drugs of similar composition. Profits for patented pharmaceutical represent a reward that pharmaceutical companies earn through years of research and development and only then will they be able to profit from their work. As per the industry statistics the patents help to gross around 75% of the overall revenues in the pharma companies.
(Refer https:
www.upcounsel.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-patents)
Patents are more of a hindrance:
Patents do increase the prices of the medicines and also it encourages monopoly in the market for the making of critical lifesaving drugs. If there are less players in the market offering such critical drugs than the end users are left with no choice but to buy even when there are price hikes in the retail counters. The high cost of drug development also adds on to the patent costs. In today’s healthcare industry Patents are considered more as hindrance than benefits. The regulatory approval process of patented drugs also takes a long time, which actually delays the process of circulating in the market for sale. This delay in granting a patent also may make the new drug obsolete as technology advances at a rapid rate. The pharma companies do not disclose the technical information about the production of the drug and hence keep the details as a trade secret which in turn do not allow more pharma companies to make similar drugs and cater to the market to save people suffering from critical ailments.
At times the process of getting a patent for a new drug is very expensive and it can be unsuccessful also of found unsuitable by the regulatory agencies which means there is a wastage of time and effort in getting the generic drugs for patient use. Maintaining a patent or the patents is a recu
ing cost for the pharma companies which they offset to the price of the drugs making them costlier at times when it gets into the market. There are also other hindrances of patent because the competition always finds ways to make similar products and then the actual inventor needs to fight it out in the courts again, which is also a...