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July 08, 2009
Pope blames PhRMA-friendly patent laws for unaffordable health care
As I first read in the Knowledge Ecology International blog, Pope Benedict's new Encyclical Letter has some bold language on growing economic "inequalities." "In rich countries, new sectors of society are succumbing to poverty and new forms of poverty are emerging. In poorer areas some groups enjoy a sort of “superdevelopment” of a wasteful and consumerist kind which forms an unacceptable contrast with the ongoing situations of dehumanizing deprivation." Importantly, the Pope criticizes patent policies that benefit the powerful prescription drug industry at the expense of affordable health care: On the part of rich countries there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care. As noted in my previous blog entry, the US DOJ will be investigating competition in the drug industry, expanding efforts long underway by the new US FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz, who began cracking down on "pay-to-delay" generics deals as a commissioner. On Capitol Hill, big PHhRMA, comprised of prescription drug companies long opposed to any competition or safety regulation that they don't approve of, has been joined in recent years by a new player. The emerging biotechnology superpower known as BIO -- whose members develop drugs through gene manipulation and cloning, although it is hard to find that simple explanation on their website -- is seeking extraordinary patent protection expansion as a part of the health care reform debate. Washington Post story on the Encyclical Letter: Pope Criticizes World Economic System, Urges Social Responsibility
Posted by Ed Mierzwinski at July 8, 2009 09:05 AM
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