ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights explains briefly alternative models for financing pharmaceutical Research and Development. Few policies have caused as much domestic and international controversy as the patents system for pharmaceuticals. The most widely acknowledged cost to society generated by patents is that of monopolistic pricing, the intended effect of patents. The pharmaceutical industry is loath to provide the data required for accurate estimates of the cost of drug development. The pharmaceutical industry has an interest in health and medical professionals viewing them favourably. Developing countries opposing pharmaceutical patents had been marginalized through the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, and unorthodox academic critics of the patent system exercised little influence. Patents transform information into a private good, despite its economic attributes as a public good. By privatizing information, patents create an 'enclosure movement' that restricts the free dissemination of information and concentrates ownership narrowly into the hands of the corporate sector.
