In a piece for the Morning Consult, Philip Thompson of the Property Rights Alliance highlights the importance of intellectual property in powering innovation, especially in key categories like medicine: Ja’Ceon Golden, a “bubble boy” cured with healthy genes delivered via a “hijacked” (and otherwise harmless) HIV virus, is a poster boy for medical innovation. But this kind of innovation is endangered by weak IP protections in many countries, Thompson warns, which threaten IP’s long-term value and with it the financial incentives for major research stakeholders, including companies and public and private universities, to invest in future innovation. That’s a serious consideration with each new drug that reaches approval costing an average $2.8 billion in R&D investment.
- Some global regulators have taken the wrong stance on IP. The World Health Organization, for example, is on the record as opposing American laws that allow public universities to patent discoveries from NIH-funded research.
- The intellectual property rights gap between high income countries and others has only closed moderately in recent years, and substantial disparities remain.
- Studies show that countries with strong IP protections enjoy a competitive advantage in a world economy defined by shifting global value chains.
Philip Thompson is the Policy Analyst for Intellectual Property and Trade at Property Rights Alliance, an international advocacy firm dedicated to the protection of all property rights.
