Asthma meds have become shockingly unaffordable − but relief may be on the way

An inhaler that costs nearly $300 in the US goes for just $9 in Germany. What gives?

Ana Santos Rutschman, Professor of Law, Villanova School of Law • conversation
March 8, 2024 • ~7 min

Don’t let ‘FDA-approved’ or ‘patented’ in ads give you a false sense of security

Most people don’t know what these labels really mean − and advertisers take advantage of that fact.

Michael Mattioli, Professor of Law and Louis F. Niezer Faculty Fellow, Indiana University • conversation
Feb. 14, 2024 • ~4 min

When authoritative sources hold onto bad data: A legal scholar explains the need for government databases to retract information

Theranos was dissolved years ago, and its CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, is in prison, but the company’s patents based on bad science live on – a stark example of the persistence of faulty information.

Janet Freilich, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University • conversation
Dec. 14, 2023 • ~8 min

Blame capitalism? Why hundreds of decades-old yet vital drugs are nearly impossible to find

The shortages, which have been going on for years, have typically affected only low-cost generics rather than profitable brand-name drugs.

Geoffrey Joyce, Director of Health Policy, USC Schaeffer Center, and Associate Professor, University of Southern California • conversation
July 20, 2023 • ~9 min

In rural America, right-to-repair laws are the leading edge of a pushback against growing corporate power

Corporations restrict what farmers can do with their own seeds, as well as their farm equipment when it breaks down.

Leland Glenna, Professor of Rural Sociology and Science, Technology, and Society, Penn State • conversation
Feb. 22, 2023 • ~10 min

Grassroots AIDS activists fought for and won affordable HIV treatments around the world – but PEPFAR didn't change governments and pharma

The US PEPFAR initiative has brought HIV medication to millions of people globally. Behind this progress are the activists that pressured politicians and companies to put patients over patents.

Dan Royles, Associate Professor of History, Florida International University • conversation
Jan. 24, 2023 • ~10 min

Pharma's expensive gaming of the drug patent system is successfully countered by the Medicines Patent Pool, which increases global access and rewards innovation

The Medicines Patent Pool was created to promote public health, facilitating generic licensing for patented drugs that treat diseases predominantly affecting low- and middle-income countries.

Lucy Xiaolu Wang, Assistant Professor of Resource Economics, UMass Amherst • conversation
Dec. 5, 2022 • ~11 min

Creativity doesn’t belong to the young, patents show

"Although the peak of patents awarded are for those in midlife, there are inventors who are patenting well into later life."

Jarret Bencks-Brandeis • futurity
Nov. 14, 2022 • ~6 min

Repurposing generic drugs can reduce time and cost to develop new treatments – but low profitability remains a barrier

Drug repurposing can redeem failed treatments and squeeze out new uses from others. But many pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to retool existing drugs without a high return on investment.

Jonathan Sexton, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan • conversation
April 6, 2022 • ~11 min

CORBEVAX, a new patent-free COVID-19 vaccine, could be a pandemic game changer globally

CORBEVAX is anticipated to significantly expand vaccine access to people in low- and middle-income countries.

Maureen Ferran, Associate Professor of Biology, Rochester Institute of Technology • conversation
Jan. 19, 2022 • ~9 min

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