This paper explores the workings of the patent system in the context of the generation of new pharmaceutical products …. First it identifies the relevant characteristics of the patent system and its relation to the market. The paper concedes … that, in general, the patent system is probably the best way of generating new technology, in substantial part because that …

provides a cost-benefit analysis of the first public health-oriented patent pooling and licensing institution, the Medicines … Patent Pool (MPP), which is devoted to improving generic drug supply in low- and middle-income countries. A simple structural …

There do not appear to be any cost-benefit assessments of the impact of patent systems, nor any data that can be used … to directly assess the economic impact of patent systems. Discussions of patent policy therefore tend to be theoretical … substantial empirical material on the costs and benefits of patent systems published in a very diverse range of journals and …