Patents are good for 20 years, not 7.
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/ucm079031.htmhttp://www.uspto.gov/inventors/patents.js
My mom and about 20 million seniors suffer from diabetic neuropathy, a nerve degenerating disease from diabetes. It creates severe pain, tingling, itching etc., that is unbearable. Pfizer has this drug LYRICA introduced in 2002 that treats this condition. Here is the tragedy. An activist corporate greed judge in US court of appeals banned drug companies from making generic of LYRICA till 2018! By law a patent is valid only for 7 years. Medicare does not pay for it as it is too expensive $150 for one month supply.
In Canada, India, Mexico, Australia, S. Africa and most European countries the patent was allowed to expire in 2009 and drug companies are making generics. I went to Canada early this week and got 6 months supply of LYRICA for my grand mother costing, believe it, $124 and it was made by Pfizer, Canada. In January of this year I bought a year's supply in India for $175 and it was made by Pfizer, India!
Teva Pharma, Mylan Labs, Ranabaxy lobbied Congress to let them make generic in 2012 but GOP blocked the initiative.
Is this what the Republicans call the "Best Health Care System in the World".
Once again your ignorance of the law makes conversation with you impossible.
Your assignment for the day is to research how long medical patents are actually issued for, and then come back and we can have a discussion. in the meantime you are TSTTT . Run along now.
Not really. Patent laws are regularly reviewed by WTO and Pfizer is a German company. After 7 years generic manufacturers are allowed exclusivity through Government to manufacture generic equivalent. That is how Pfizer in Canada, India, Europe, S. Africa allow generics to be available. Teva, Mylan and Ranabaxy asked for the same in USA but court and Republicans stood in the way.
Those countries have the health and welfare of the people in mind but here it is Corporate welfare. In India generic manufacturers are mandated to reimburse Pfizer 2% of their sales.
There is a way to help seniors but not here.
The judge you criticize is black. Plus, he was appointed by Clinton so your attack on Republicans is just as loony.
Back to reality now. I suggest you take GAG's advice but also investigate how the regulations of the FDA and laws passed by Congress has also played into this situation. Or maybe it's just the capitalism involved that irks you. Let's remove that and see which direction the motivation to develop new drugs goes.
BTW, Pfizer is a New York based company.
Pfizer is a German Pharmaceutical company. The US subsidiary is in NYC. The color of the skin of the Judge does not matter as they are all under the payroll of big pharma. As for Republicans, they blocked attempts by use exclusivity in case of LYRICA as they are also under the payroll of big pharma. If you don't know Pharma is #3 in lobbying $$ next to Defense & Wall Street.
Companies like Pfizer don't make much of their income here in US. They make their money in countries where the health care is nationalized and drug prices are controlled by the Government. The cost of manufacture of the same drugs in US and countries like Canada, India etc., are 50% less than US. In India they sell the same LYRICA for 75% less than in US. In Canada the patent expired last year. The generics are 90% less than brand LYRICA in US.
No wonder seniors in US travel to Canada to get their prescription drugs
I would think that a socialist that believes the U.S. is too powerful and needs to be taken down a peg or two would appreciate the present status where the U.S. consumers are essentially subsidizing pharmaceutical costs around the world. I guess not so much when it actually hits YOUR wallet.
The U.S. still believes in intellectual property rights and as such still honors patent law. Other countries just pretend to do so.
Not that it matters much but you are wrong about Germany. Here's proof.
http://www.pfizer.com/about/history/timeline
Activism has nothing to do with enforcing US law.
The US Court of Appeals does not enforce international law, nor is it beholden to the WTO, nor does it use rulings in Cannada, India et al as precedence to make it's rulings. That would be activism, what the US Court of Appeals did was enforce US law. If you have a problem with the law, change it, but don't blame the courts for enforcing the laws that are currently on the books.
Once again you have proven yourself TSTTT. Come back when you can afford to buy a clue.
The US Court of Appeals does not enforce international law, nor is it beholden to the WTO, nor does it use rulings in Cannada, India et al as precedence to make it's rulings. That would be activism, what the US Court of Appeals did was enforce US law. If you have a problem with the law, change it, but don't blame the courts for enforcing the laws that are currently on the books.
Once again you have proven yourself TSTTT. Come back when you can afford to buy a clue.
He'd probably eat Gag's shit, smile and say it tastes like chocolate pie.
Thank you sir!! May I have another??
Lmao
Or, make a post not supported by your source? Feel free and let the fun start and your nose will be bloodied again!
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By the way Johnny dumb ass, I thought you were through with me? I see you are not a man of your word but certainly a coward.I see you and the other village idiot are working together. That's a sign of weakness for old white men who are weak and can't defend anything. Did you learn that from your Klan brothers? Also, get some courage and make racist remarks here like you do on the dc board. I forgot, you're a freaking quiter and a old white racist coward.
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Unlike your dumb ass, at least gaga can frame a argument and debate. He also defends his post with intellectual insight. You're dumb ass make ignorant post, get crushed, then put your tail between your legs and do not even defend them. You're the dumbest person on ter. Now, come back with your old white man slurs dummy.
-- Modified on 7/21/2014 6:21:21 PM
But his smarts won't rub off on you by licking his balls!
I see you're still wearing your 3rd grade medal around your neck! I can understand your deep seated sense of unworthiness forcing you to over compensate and make mountains out of molehills. Someone like yourself, with so little real life achievement needs something to hang onto to feel good about yourself. So you cling to these imaginary bloody noses you imagine you inflict and beat your chest hoping to gain attention. Grow up little boy and join adulthood.
In fact, it was I who kicked the living shit out of you and to this day you STILL run like a pussy and evade answering a simple question. "What enforcement action are you suggesting Congress take to solve the immigration problem pursuant to their enforcement powers? There it is again dickhole.
Dont run like a cunt and try to change the subject you bigoted little freak.
Adrian "dogdick88" Jones WINNING again!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ87ehaZ-Ck
Once I made you look like the total dumb ass you are by citing at least three ways congress can enforce laws, you quit and ceded that your ignorant ass was wrong. You then went into a total melt down so ter administration would pull parts of the thread and it worked. It's there for all to see. Then you turned around and changed the issue at hand and even stated I said congress was a law enforcement body. Not true and you know it.
Village idiot #1, this is a debate, not a Sara palin dumb ass moment were you change the issue being debated in the middle of the discussion. As far as my success in life, I don't care to share that with white trash. By the way idiot, how is that tax refund you got last year under this administration?You know, the black leader of the good ole USA that you stated is destroying the country? I see it helped you buy some pussy fool! If you have to get a tax refund to buy some ass, I know you are really poor white trash.
By the way, what happened to your reviews after big p exposed your dumb ass? I pointed out that fact and called you out? Your response, nothing. I see gaga has kicked your ass by calling you out for being the total racist you are and you went into a total melt down again about how white males are blAmed for most of the the problems in the USA. Remember village idiot #1? Enough said.
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and 2 changes!!! i LOVE the FACT i'm so under your skin you spend that much time blabbering on.
but you took ZERO time answering the question.
this makes you a cunt of the highest order....bloody nose!! disjointed elbow!!!!! leg lock!!
Tap out!!
The bottom line is Canadian pharmacies and the same Pfizer, Merck, Glaxo (in Canada) are minting money from seniors who cross the border and get their prescriptions.
I know CVS & Walgreens destroy boxes of LYRICA every year after their expiry date as there are not many seniors prepared or afford to pay $150 each month while they can get the same from Canada for $11.
Laws are not written in stone and whoever said "Law is an Ass" (wiki = application of law that is contrary to common sense) is on full display in US.
So I did come back with something that makes sense but not "legal".
Are you saying that you would like the US Court of Appeals to ignore US Law and rule according to YOUR moral compass?
Lets suppose they did that, wouldn't they then be "activist" Judges? which is exactly what you claim to despise. I am sorry, but you are truly TSTTT. Let me know when you pick a position that you would like to stick to,
Patents are good for 20 years, not 7.
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/ucm079031.htm
http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/patents.js
my guess is that Pfizer probably has their own US subsidiary, incorporated under US law.
Patent law in this country has gotten very screwed up over the last 20 years. It's gotten outright obnoxious. We've had motion pictures (movies) for over a century now, and almost none exist within public domain. Even the song "Happy Birthday" is owned by a corporation.
Patent law is supposed to protect the creators and inventors of products. Allow them to make money off of their creation, and prevent others from stealing their work and making money off of their labor. Today, patent law is just there to protect the intellectual copyright of multi-billion dollar corporations.
The pharmaceutical industry is one of the worse examples. Americans are regularly having to find ways to get imported drugs just so their misfortune doesn't cause them to go bankrupt. That's the kind of evil bastards that run corporate America.
What's vile is that most of the drugs are produced in the USA, then shipped across the border, say into Canada, where it costs just a tiny fraction of what it costs here. Americans then have to risk breaking the law by buying those drugs illegally in foreign markets, just so they can afford them.
And people wonder why I despise capitalism so much. In a just world, the US gov't would nationalize these Big Pharma corporations, and sell their products at cost instead for an obnoxious profit. Most of the R&D that goes into these drugs aren't coming from Big Pharma anyway. The R&D is being paid for by the US taxpayer and it's being conducted at major universities. There's no real reason for these corporations to even exist. Their only purpose is to make rich people even more rich by taking advantage of other people's health care woes.
Copyrights also expire but the term is for a much longer term than patents. Copyrights are typically the life of the author plus another 70 years although it can vary a little with circumstances.
Trademarks never expire as long as they are still in use.
Utility patents last up to 20 years (used to be 17 years prior to 1995)
Design patents are for 15 years (used to be 14 years prior to 2013)
I have no desire to argue capitalism any more today but a side note. . . If big pharma did not finance the research into lyrica (or some other drug) then how did they get assigned the patent? If a university or the government paid for the research then why wouldn't they keep the assignment or make it public domain
"If big pharma did not finance the research into lyrica (or some other drug) then how did they get assigned the patent? If a university or the government paid for the research then why wouldn't they keep the assignment or make it public domain?"
That's a very good question, Ed. Maybe the reason this doesn't happen is because it's just another taxpayer give-away to corporate America. Just like when some mining company drills on public lands. You'd think we'd pay such a company a small fee to drill it, and whatever goodies that came out belonged to the American People. But nope. We allow mineral and mining companies to regularly steal our shit and sell it back to us. Nice work, if you can get it.