A good intro to the economic issues surrounding pharmaceutical patents, from Richard Posner and Gary Becker. Posner writes,

Invention is a cumulative process; a new invention is usually an incremental improvement on an existing one. So the more patents that are “out there,” the greater are the costs involved in negotiating for a license from every patentee whom the new inventor may arguably be infringing. Because a patent can be obtained without even a prototype, because patent examiners are overworked and it takes less work to approve than to reject a patent application, and because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which reviews patent validity, is extraordinarily pro-patent, the number of issued patents has grown steadily in recent decades. There is concern that some fields are so blanketed with patents (which may be owned by firms that do no production at all—whose business plan centers on demanding license fees under threat to sue for patent infringement) that innovation is actually being impeded.

Becker writes,

I do not like the hype and some other salesmanship of big pharma and bio-tech companies, but this industry has made enormous contributions to raising world health. It is likely to become even more important in the future as drugs are developed to match individual genetic differences. One does not want to kill this goose that is laying golden eggs by ill-thought out and counterproductive “reforms”.

Becker also favors, as does Alex Tabarrok, allowing drugs to reach the market only after safety trials. He suggests eliminating efficacy trials in exchange for shorter patent lives.

For Discussion. How could we reduce the burden of the patent system that Posner describes while not taking away the incentive to innovate?