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Drugs and money
Members' Drinks featuring Hugh Burrill
Hosted by:
April 8, 2016 @ 3:15 am - 5:00 am
Pharmaceutical Patents : the participants, the trends and the impact on prices and access to medicines.
Pharmaceutical patents are at the centre of the research and development (R&D) and commercialisation of new medicines.
It is generally accepted that monopoly protection through the granting of patents for pharmaceutical products is required to generate sufficient profits to provide the incentive and returns necessary to encourage investment in the expensive and risky business of pharmaceutical R&D.
But with the granting of monopolies on pharmaceutical products that can be worth billions of dollars per annum, comes a completely different dimension to what is otherwise the very scientific and technical field of R&D.
Because the profits from a new medicine can be so significant, those who hold the monopolies do all they can to secure and extend that monopoly, and those who seek to access that market do all they can to get a “piece of the action”, and in some cases the distinction between the two competing sides is not so black and white.
This conversation aims to provide an insight into the participants involved in this aspect of pharmaceuticals; what the tactics and outcomes are, what the recent developments are, and importantly how this can affect the prices and access to medicines.
Hugh Burrill is a Company Director of a pharmaceutical company listed on the ASX and a large proprietary aerospace business.
He previously led global pharmaceutical R&D in a number of organisations in the sectors of Biotechnology, Brand (aka Originator) Pharma, and Generic Pharma. All these R&D organisations included intellectual property lawyers concerned with both the creation and the challenging of pharmaceutical patents as an integral part of the R&D process.
This is a rare opportunity to listen and discuss the future of pharmaceutical patents, prices and availability under the Chatham House rule.