Center for American Principles Policy Fellow Patrick Kilbride recently published an Op-Ed in RealClearHealth on the critical role strong patent protections play in encouraging the development of new and improved medicines.
Kilbride explains that medical innovation does not end when a drug first receives FDA approval. Continued research can produce better formulations, delivery methods, dosing, manufacturing processes, and new therapeutic uses that make existing medicines safer, more effective, and accessible to more patients.
The Op-Ed challenges claims that patents on these follow-on innovations unfairly extend drug monopolies, noting that each patent protects a distinct invention for its own limited term. Kilbride argues that weakening these protections would discourage the high-risk private investment responsible for developing both breakthrough medicines and the improvements that continue benefiting patients long after a drug’s initial discovery.