Copyrights to papers in the Duke Economics Working Paper Archive remain with the authors or their assignees. Archive users may download papers and produce them for their own personal use, but downloading of papers for any other activity, including reposting to other electronic bulletin boards or archives, may not be done without the written consent of the authors.

Duke Economics Working Paper #02-25

Patents and New Product Development in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industries


Henry Grabowski

Abstract

This paper examines the rationale for intellectual property protection in the development of new pharmaceutical products. Prior survey studies of R&D executives have found that patents play a more critical role in appropriating the benefits of innovation in pharmaceuticals compared to other high tech industries. This paper considers why this is so based on an analysis of the economic characteristics of R&D costs and returns in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The final section examines recent policy developments and issues surrounding patent lifetime and generic competition in this industry.

JEL:

Retrieve document:

30 pages

  Help on downloading documents