Compulsory Licensing
Panel
Panel 1: IP and the Future of Medicine
Moderator
George Randels, Professor of Religious Studies, University of the Pacific
Description
This presentation explores renewed calls for compulsory licensing of pharmaceutical patents in the United States. Rhetoric surrounding recently-introduced legislation suggests that compulsory licensing on the grounds of drug price is not only an appropriate solution to perceived cost issues in the U.S. but is consistent with international practices. These conclusions are suspect. First, the vast majority of compulsory licenses issued outside of the U.S. for pharmaceutical patents are limited to AIDS/HIV indications. Extrapolation to other disease areas is questionable. Second, even using broad inclusion criteria, the few countries that have issued compulsory licenses for patents relating to non-AIDS/HIV drugs are not similarly situated to the U.S. The limited number of indications implicated by these licenses and the downward trend of their usage over time suggests that the broad proposals in the U.S. would be outliers if adopted.
Location
Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Lecture Hall, 3200 Fifth Ave., Sacramento, CA
Compulsory Licensing
Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Lecture Hall, 3200 Fifth Ave., Sacramento, CA
This presentation explores renewed calls for compulsory licensing of pharmaceutical patents in the United States. Rhetoric surrounding recently-introduced legislation suggests that compulsory licensing on the grounds of drug price is not only an appropriate solution to perceived cost issues in the U.S. but is consistent with international practices. These conclusions are suspect. First, the vast majority of compulsory licenses issued outside of the U.S. for pharmaceutical patents are limited to AIDS/HIV indications. Extrapolation to other disease areas is questionable. Second, even using broad inclusion criteria, the few countries that have issued compulsory licenses for patents relating to non-AIDS/HIV drugs are not similarly situated to the U.S. The limited number of indications implicated by these licenses and the downward trend of their usage over time suggests that the broad proposals in the U.S. would be outliers if adopted.
Speaker Bio
Melissa Brand is Associate Counsel and Director for Intellectual Property Policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a major trade association with over 1,000 members in the biotechnology industry. In her role at BIO, Ms. Brand advocates on domestic and international intellectual property matters, with a particular emphasis on patent law and policy. Prior to joining BIO, Ms. Brand worked as a patent litigator at Latham & Watkins and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Ms. Brand also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Kimberly A. Moore at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as a Comments Editor for the San Diego Law Review. She graduated cum laude with a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.