Ah, yet another thread of people outraged at "trolls" and patents without having a single clue about how patents are obtained, how patent litigation works, how patents support our economy, or really any reasonable way to define what a "troll" is.
Nevertheless, want some fodder for that anger? Check this out:
Lipitor, under patent protection, earned Pfizer roughly $11 billion per year on average; and $13 billion in its last year under patent. The Patent expired in 2011. Pfizer’s strategy to maintain market share was to meet the new competitive price, which meant dropping its price 80%. A crude calculation puts the value of patent protection (that is, the cost willingly posed by society on itself to protect IP rights) on a product intended to prevent stroke and heart attacks at more than $8.8 billion per year.
Legitimate patent, legitimate patent owner making a legitimate product. We as a society paid them $8.8billion per year for it. The questions are:
1. Would Pfizer have bothered to invent Lipitor without knowing it would have a period of exclusivity?
2. How many drugs does Pfizer invent that end up being not being marketable, or not working as well as initially thought, that should be subtracted from that $8.8billion per year?
3. How many drugs does Pfizer invent, that are not so profitable due to the market being too small, but which are subsidized by the blockbuster drugs like Lipitor?
