E-drug: Adverse events patent
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I attach the above-referenced "adverse events" patent which can be
found in the US Patent Office Database. The claims (which define
the "intellectual property" of the owner) are extremely broad. I'm a
biotech IP lawyer, not a computer jock but I believe the key aspect
of the claims which might be unique relates to the claim language
"... and to assist in identifying at least one new use for the product
...". In the patent document itself, the inventor (Classen) describes
a key difference between this invention and the closest "prior art"
(dealing with adverse events associated with vaccines) as his
invention discloses " ... the notion of identifying new and
proprietary uses for existing vaccines based on the discovery of
new adverse events associated with the vaccines."
Although the patent itself is not very long, it's pretty dense.
Whenever I read a patent, I always ask "How is the inventor going
to make money from the patent?" Although this idea may force
manufacturers of branded products to disclose more detailed
adverse event information (as suggested by the press release), one
would need to study this patent's disclosure much more carefully to
see what's really going on. For instance, the inventor wants to
create a series of subscriber-accessible proprietary databases
containing useful adverse event information wherein these
databases would be used by the subscribers to patent new
therapeutic uses for existing products based on newly discovered
adverse event information. To the extent that adding more and
more patents fuels the incentives of 'big pharma' to maintain high
drug prices, I'm not sure this concept will benefit the consumer.
Warren Kaplan, Esq.
Boston University School of Public Health
Summer Program in International Health
e-mail: wak22@mediaone.net
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