They’re possible thanks to the deliberate innovation ecosystem we’ve built in the United States—which includes strong intellectual property protections. We take a look at some of them in a new blog post.
Of the nearly 750 unique active compounds in development to fight COVID-19, more than half are being researched and developed in U.S. labs.
And it’s not just COVID: More than half of the roughly 8,000 treatments in development globally are byproducts of U.S. labs. This includes 1,200 therapies to fight cancer, 566 medicines targeting rare diseases, and 200 treatments for heart disease and stroke.
“America’s innovation ecosystem is no accident. It’s a direct and intentional result of decades of smart, forward-thinking policies that incentivize and reward innovation,” we write.
These include policies like patent protections as well as legislation such as the Hatch-Waxman Act, which has advanced new discoveries and competition that drives down costs, and the Bayh-Dole Act, which helps private companies turn early-stage federally funded research into tangible medicines and products.
Bayh-Dole is more important than ever,as we’ve explained, as drug manufacturers are pouring billions of dollars into turning basic science from federally funded research into potential COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics.
But some want the federal government to wrongly use it to “march in” and seize the patents on these drugs, sending “a chilling message to companies in every industry—don’t bother investing billions of R&D dollars to turn federally funded inventions into real-life, market-ready products, since the government will just steal the fruit of your labor,” explains David Winwood, an expert in university technology transfer, in The Washington Times.
Laws and protections like Bayh-Dole have helped us “live healthier, more prosperous lives,” concludes Winwood. “We should nurture this innovation—not squash it by inappropriate use of march-in rights.”
Want to know more about what’s happening in the biopharmaceutical investment ecosystem? Join us next week for BIO Investor Forum Digital, three days of virtual educational sessions and networking with investors and potential partners.
