Suchergebnisse

Introduction -- The nature of the pharmaceutical industry. What is the pharmaceutical industry?. Regulating corporate medicine -- Antecedents, origins, and the emergence of a new industry. Cells, germs, receptors, and magic bullets: from ancient to modern theories of the body, disease, drugs, and drug action. From the dyeing arts to drugs : or dye-making, pharmacy, and the new research corporation -- Science, business strategy, and growth. Making hormones. The anti-infectives: sulphonamide, penicillin, and the antibiotics. Biotechnology, personalisation, precision, and the digital turn. Intellectual property in biomedicine -- The pharmaceutical sector and the public interest. Prescriptions for a healthier pharmaceutical industry.

What is the Pharmaceutical Industry? -- Regulating Corporate Medicine -- Cells, Germs, Receptors and Magic Bullets : From Ancient to Modern Theories of the Body, Disease, and Drug Action -- From the Dyeing Arts to Drugs : Dye-making, Pharmacy and the new Research Corporation -- Making Hormones -- The Anti-infectives : Sulphonamide, Penicillin and the Antibiotics -- Biotechnology, Personalisation, Precision, and the Digital Turn -- Intellectual Property in Biomedicine -- Prescriptions for a Healthier Pharmaceutical Industry.

1. Intellectual property in the global economy : high stakes and propaganda warfare -- 2. Intellectual property and regulation theory -- 3. The emergence of modern patent law -- 4. Organic chemistry and the synthetic dyestuff industry -- 5. The pharmaceutical industry -- 6. Biotechnology, genomics and the new life science corporations -- 7. Plant breeding, the seed industry and plant breeders' rights -- 8. Towards a global IP regime : trade and diplomacy -- 9. Forums of resistance? -- 10. Epilogue : the life science industries in a patent-free world.

Biogenetic resources - the critical biological and chemical materials that underpin so much of medicine, both modern and traditional, agriculture, and wider economic activity in so many fields - are at the centre of heated debate regarding their use, development, and ownership, and the issues of ethics and equity that impinge on all of these factors. This book is a comprehensive examination of the key issues, institutions and ideologies in this area, presenting definitions and explanations of the fundamentals of intellectual property rights (IPRs), biogenetic resources and traditional knowledge.

I weigh the arguments for and against the patenting of functional DNA sequences including genes, and find the objections to be compelling. Is an outright ban on DNA patenting the right policy response? Not necessarily. Governments may wish to consider options ranging from patent law reforms to the creation of new rights. There are alternative ways to protect DNA sequences that industry may choose if DNA patenting is restricted or banned. Some of these alternatives may be more harmful than patents. Such unintended consequences of patent bans mean that we should think hard before concluding that prohibition is the only response to legitimate concerns about the appropriateness of patents in the field of human genomics.

Journal of World Intellectual Property, Vol. 7, No. 5, September 2004, is reviewed.