Support Tennessee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s intellectual property rights push | Opinion

Innovations must be protected legally

Patsy Writesman is a nationally recognized health care speaker, consultant, and owner of ManageHealthCareCosts.com.

• Patsy Writesman is a nationally recognized health care speaker, consultant, and owner of ManageHealthCareCosts.com.

Americans have become used to seeing headlines about the latest effort by China to steal American technology and ideas. Fortunately, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has long been a champion of protecting the ingenuity and creativity of our state’s songwriting community, including the intellectual property rights of songwriters. Similarly, Senator Blackburn is also a champion of protecting innovation in our country’s manufacturing sector.

Unfortunately, there are recent efforts from the World Trade Organization that would hand over some of our country’s pharmaceutical manufacturers’ intellectual property rights to the likes of China, Russia, South Africa, India, and others.

Thankfully, Senator Blackburn and U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa recently reintroduced their No Free TRIPS Act, which would require any presidential administration to receive congressional approval before withdrawing, suspending, waiving, or modifying the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical manufacturers, which the Biden administration has attempted to do through Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waivers.

Act to prevent a medical research exodus

One provision of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress last year allows government bureaucrats to impose strict price limits on what companies can charge for medications well before the typical established patent timelines. Simply put, the bill’s harm to the future of medical advancements for all Americans is far-reaching.

It’s no secret that the medications that so many Tennesseans rely on required significant private-sector investment as they were developed, tested, approved, and distributed to local pharmacies. That investment is possible only if companies can be assured that their innovations will be protected under already agreed-upon intellectual property laws and rights of our country.

In fact, the brand-new medicine that you picked up from your pharmacy likely required up to six years and over a billion dollars of research and development, on top of lengthy testing.

Without assurances of intellectual property rights, it’s no surprise that pharmaceutical manufacturers are weighing moves to pull back investing in new lifesaving research and innovation. One survey late last year found that 75% of companies said the Inflation Reduction Act was creating uncertainty for medical research and is causing manufacturers to reconsider their research and development strategy in the United States.

The same survey found that most companies were planning to halt new clinical development projects, reduce spending on new scientific platforms, and pause research projects related to the treatment of mental health, infectious disease, and cancer. That’s bad news for our economy, our health care system, and most importantly, patients.

As you might expect, a degrading of these intellectual property protections doesn’t end at our country’s borders. Other groups like the World Trade Organization want to extend and expand the TRIPS waiver to include testing and therapeutics. This destruction of intellectual property rights will lead to a decline in medical investment that will leave us more vulnerable and less safe as we prepare for a future pandemic.

We need to act quickly to prevent an exodus of medical research from our country, but it’s not too late. Sen. Blackburn and a number of her Senate colleagues including Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Sen. Tommy Tuberville should be applauded for the No Free TRIPS Act, which addresses some of these threats to intellectual property and helps ensure a free market that protects our health care future.

It’s time for Congress to act

As Senator Blackburn states:

“American life sciences companies engage in critical research and development, and it is essential that we protect their intellectual property rights,” said Senator Blackburn. “During the COVID pandemic, the private sector answered the call and moved swiftly to develop world-class, life-saving vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Expanding the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS waiver to COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics would undermine the intellectual property protections that made these biomedical advances possible and will disincentivize these companies from acting in the event of another public health emergency.”

As companies question our commitment to protecting their investments and innovations, and the clock ticks for patients waiting for new treatments, this is not the time to handicap American competitiveness.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• Protect intellectual property rights to encourage innovation and investment in industries, including the pharmaceutical sector.
• Promote research and development in the medical field to improve health outcomes and find cures for diseases.
• Ensure a free market that supports the growth of the healthcare industry.

Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being

• Protect intellectual property rights to incentivize pharmaceutical manufacturers to invest in research and development of new medications.
• Prevent a decline in medical investment that could negatively impact health outcomes and access to treatments.
• Support the development of innovative therapies and diagnostics for diseases.

Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

• Protect intellectual property rights to encourage investment and job creation in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
• Promote a stable and predictable business environment that fosters innovation and economic growth.
• Ensure fair competition and market conditions that benefit both companies and consumers.

Conclusion

It’s time for Congress to act and protect intellectual property rights. By doing so, we can safeguard the future of medical advancements, support economic growth, and ensure access to innovative treatments for all Americans.

Patsy Writesman is a nationally recognized health care speaker, consultant, and owner of ManageHealthCareCosts.com.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential healthcare services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines.
• SDG 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people.
• SDG 17.16: Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicator for SDG 3.8: Proportion of the population with access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines on a sustainable basis.
• Indicator for SDG 9.5: Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP.
• Indicator for SDG 17.16: Number of countries implementing measures to prevent the theft and unauthorized use of intellectual property rights.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Behold! This splendid article springs forth from the wellspring of knowledge, shaped by a wondrous proprietary AI technology that delved into a vast ocean of data, illuminating the path towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Remember that all rights are reserved by SDG Investors LLC, empowering us to champion progress together.

Source: tennessean.com

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