Letters
High cost of new drugs
Patents: problem or panacea?
BMJ 2016; 354 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i4526 (Published 23 August 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;354:i4526
- Chika E Uzoigwe, specialty doctor, trauma and orthopaedics1,
- Jonathan McCann, F2 doctor2,
- George Iacob, F2 doctor2
- 1Harcourt House, Sheffield, UK
- 2Alexandra Hospital, Redditch, UK
- chika{at}doctors.org.uk
The cost of hepatitis C treatment has caused alarm.1 The exclusivity provided by patents allows Gilead considerable price control. The primary patent relating to the structure of sofosbuvir expires in 2024.2 The term of a patent is 20 years.3
Mazzucato argues that one way of improving accessibility is by curtailing patent longevity.1 However, EU and …
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