Concerns about a dearth of antibiotic innovation have spurred calls for incentives to speed the development of new antibiotics. Our data demonstrates that many of the new molecular entity (NME) antibiotics introduced in the last 3 decades were withdrawn from the market, at more than triple the...

On innovation grounds, pharmaceutical patents are unnecessary in low income populations, since such markets cannot do much to support global pharmaceutical profits. The public health needs of low income populations require patented drugs to be manufactured at the marginal cost of production,...

Penicillin and other antibiotics were the original wonder drugs and laid the foundation of the modern pharmaceutical industry. Human health significantly improved with the introduction of antibiotics. By 1967, the US Surgeon General declared victory over infectious diseases in the US. But pride...

The Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), which entered into force on January 1, 2005, contains many remarkable provisions of interest to generic drug companies. The AUSFTA selectively exports U.S. generic drug laws of great import to generic drug manufacturers, and is uniquely intrusive...

While neoclassical economic theory suggests that arbitrage will undermine global differential pricing of pharmaceuticals, the empirical results are more complex. Pharmaceutical regulation, IP laws, global trade agreements, and company policies support differential pricing despite the pressure of...

The US government has embarked on a trade strategy to address alleged free riding by raising patented prescription drug prices abroad. This strategy is unwise and dangerous. It is likely to 'succeed' in low and middle income countries, desperate to sign a bilateral trade agreement with the US....