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Intellectual property rights and pharmaceuticals: The case of antibiotics

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  • Bhaven N. Sampat

    (Columbia University and NBER)

Abstract

The development and diffusion of antibiotics contributed to large improvements in human health and living standards. The antibiotic revolution also spawned the modern pharmaceutical industry. This paper reviews the development of the early antibiotics, and the roles of intellectual property rights (in particular, patents) in their development and diffusion. Though today the pharmaceutical sector is typically characterized as one industry where patents are absolutely essential for innovation incentives, patent incentives had a subtle role in the early years of the antibiotic revolution. Indeed, in successive stages of the antibiotic revolution there was increasing focus of pharmaceutical firms on patents and exclusivity. The new technologies shaped patent laws and practices as much as patents influenced innovation incentives: technology and institutions co-evolved. Beyond patents and intellectual property, wartime exigencies and several forms of university-industry collaboration also appear to have been important in supporting breakthrough antibiotic innovations.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhaven N. Sampat, 2015. "Intellectual property rights and pharmaceuticals: The case of antibiotics," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 26, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    • Handle: RePEc:wip:wpaper:26
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    Cited by:

    1. Eswaran, Mukesh & Gallini, Nancy, 2016. "Rescuing the Golden Age of Antibiotics: Can Economics Help Avert the Looming Crisis?," Economics working papers nancy_gallini-2016-9, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 04 Jul 2016.
    2. Kyriakos Drivas & Andreas Panagopoulos & Stelios Rozakis, 2018. "Instigating entrepreneurship to a university in an adverse entrepreneurial landscape," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 966-985, August.
    3. Eswaran, Mukesh & Gallini, Nancy, 2017. "Can Competition Extend the Golden Age of Antibiotics?," Microeconomics.ca working papers -2017-9, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 19 Oct 2017.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights; Government; War; Law; International Relations; and Regulation; Health.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • N4 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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