How Patents Threaten Your Health

Since I only have 1000 words at my disposal, my second essay is a follow-up to my first. As Eben pointed out, there are ways in which the future development of medicine may be "distorted" by the current property-exclusivity system -- in particular by Big Pharma as actors, though the key actors aren't only the firms commonly identified as "Big Pharma." Hopefully this is ok and I don't need to go to an entirely new topic, in which case I'll change this.

A few things I want to talk about:

1. Everything can be patented in the current regime, and what is clearly not patentable -- because the patents have expired -- are increasingly being covered by exclusivity regimes that are effectively patents.

2. Health is not equal to drug therapy -- and therapy is also not just about drugs.

3. Definition of what is a doctor.

4. Forces that are not Big Pharma that like the current regime.

-- BahradSokhansanj - 28 Nov 2011