5 ms·

Re. your Lyrica example, is it probably true that the research that lead to the discovery of that drug would never have been done if not for the carrot/stick of

Re. your Lyrica example, is it probably true that the research that lead to the discovery of that drug would never have been done if not for the carrot/stick of a potential sale of the IP? Perhaps the discovery would have been made regardless and the laws are set up for a few to make a buck to the detriment of society at large (playing devil's advocate here, not convinced this is the case).

rayiner 14y ago
Universities don't make a huge amount of money from patent licensing, but it's non-trivial: http://chronicle.com/article/University-Inventions-Earned/133972 http://chronicle.com/article/University-Inventions-Earned/13.... Northwestern is particularly aggressive about pursuing patent licenses, and licensing brought in $191 million, relative to $485 million in research expenditures. But for the 155 universities in the survey, total licensing revenues was just $1.8 billion for $54 billion in research expenditures. However, universities are a piece of a larger system that includes big corporations in capital-intensive industries, federal/state government, and scientists/engineers themselves. Would universities keep doing research if they couldn't directly make money from licenses? Probably. Would the system keep working if the pharma/petrochem/aerospace/etc industries couldn't protect inventions? Those post-docs doing research at NWU aren't doing it for their love of humanity. They're there so they can get a job at Pfizer, Exxon, Lockheed-Martin, etc. Pfizer, Exxon, etc, certainly aren't in the game for their love of humanity. Would Pfizer keep hiring post-docs if some Chinese manufacturer could flood the market with cheap clone drugs within months of Pfizer bringing a drug to market? The government would keep investing, of course, but would they have to invest more to get the same output if they couldn't dangle the patent licensing carrot in front of researchers?
- betterunix 14y ago
  "Those post-docs doing research at NWU aren't doing it for their love of humanity" [citation needed]
  - RestlessMind 14y ago
    In your experience, what percentage of post-docs work only for love of humanity?
  - jonpeda 14y ago
    If you want to propose a communitarian moneyless society, so that. Don't beat around the bust.

rayiner 14y ago

Universities don't make a huge amount of money from patent licensing, but it's non-trivial: http://chronicle.com/article/University-Inventions-Earned/133972 http://chronicle.com/article/University-Inventions-Earned/13.... Northwestern is particularly aggressive about pursuing patent licenses, and licensing brought in $191 million, relative to $485 million in research expenditures. But for the 155 universities in the survey, total licensing revenues was just $1.8 billion for $54 billion in research expenditures. However, universities are a piece of a larger system that includes big corporations in capital-intensive industries, federal/state government, and scientists/engineers themselves. Would universities keep doing research if they couldn't directly make money from licenses? Probably. Would the system keep working if the pharma/petrochem/aerospace/etc industries couldn't protect inventions? Those post-docs doing research at NWU aren't doing it for their love of humanity. They're there so they can get a job at Pfizer, Exxon, Lockheed-Martin, etc. Pfizer, Exxon, etc, certainly aren't in the game for their love of humanity. Would Pfizer keep hiring post-docs if some Chinese manufacturer could flood the market with cheap clone drugs within months of Pfizer bringing a drug to market? The government would keep investing, of course, but would they have to invest more to get the same output if they couldn't dangle the patent licensing carrot in front of researchers?

betterunix 14y ago
"Those post-docs doing research at NWU aren't doing it for their love of humanity" [citation needed]
- RestlessMind 14y ago
  In your experience, what percentage of post-docs work only for love of humanity?
- jonpeda 14y ago
  If you want to propose a communitarian moneyless society, so that. Don't beat around the bust.