good article. One way to make drugs cheaper is to extend patent life in the US, and enhance patent protection outside the US.I beg to differ. Asia has been stealing American computer designs for decades, that's one of the reasons PC's have become so cheap. I'm thinking of Taiwanese industrial espionage in particular. "Outsourcing" American industrial secrets has the same effect as outsourcing our manufacturing. We get quality goods cheaper.
Except for the minor problem that most drugs produced in third world countries are rarely a quality product. Part of the reason drugs are so pricey in the USA is that the FDA thinks that drug companies ought to make them safely. I don't think any of us would have a problem with that.
Third world countries couldn't care less about drug safety, and the people living there ultimately pay the price. If these governments allowed for legitimate sales of patented drugs, then the people living in these countries would not be suffering the ill effects of badly made medicines.
In what way is enhancing recognition of intellectual property rights against free trade?
I’ll be in favor of your vision of free trade if you’ll be in favor of companies building private armies to protect their IP rights.
You fail to recognize that it takes about 10 years and 800MM USD to discover, clinically investigate, manufacture, and commercialize a new drug.
I would prefer new therapies to an ideologically pure vision of free trade. I’d actually like to see my father cured of COPD instead of just getting a cheaper script of Advair.
Also, how can we have “free trade” with China, when they won’t drop their tariffs and currency controls?