A patent entitles the inventor of a new product to prevent others from selling, manufacturing, making, marketing or importing the patented product for a limited period of time. This can provide the patent holder with a monopoly position in the market for that product, which allows them to charge a higher price and achieve their expected returns (both tangible and intangible). Pharmaceutical companies used this strategy to maintain their market competitiveness and guarantee the returns on the investment on research and development of their products. The patent law and policy also protect and encourage manufacturing companies to invest in the research and development of new products that ultimately will benefit the end users.
The enforcement of patent law in the pharmaceutical industry is particularly important. A recent report by Ernst and Young LLP found that for every drug that is able to pass the entire test and acquire the certification to launch to the market, on average, it costs $500 million.
The pharmaceutical companies invest a lot of money in R&D and technological areas to develop new drugs. Without these initiatives, most of the new drugs on the market will not exist and from that people will suffer from disease. The system of granting patents is important for drug companies to generate profits to do research to launch new drugs on the market. The profit gained from selling the patented drugs will support the funding for developing new prescriptions. If the patent is about to expire, the drug manufacturer will adjust the pricing, sales and marketing strategies to cope with the changes in external environment. This will normally enable more customers to buy the drug at a lower price.
The patent law prohibits the stealing of ideas and formula of the inventors and at the same time encourages the competitors to steer their R&D in other drugs. Under ideal situation, this will create a fair competitive market that allows a healthy