Comments for Supreme Court Voids Viagra Patent as Insufficient Disclosure Means It Fails the "Patent Bargain" at http://www.michaelgeist.ca , comment 1 to 35 out of 20 comments http://www.michaelgeist.ca Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:59:01 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-52448 ...also, not a "Patent Bargain", but insufficient disclosure which in itself is a ground for refusing to grant a patent. - Pinsky Law Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:39:48 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-52447 This kind of conduct on the part of Pfizer has always been an ingredient of a "good" chemical/medicine patent application. Whereas mechanical and electrical patent applications are trying to disclose an invention to a fullest extent, chemical/medicine applications are trying to hide the ball and make the application as confusing as possible. Pinsky Law - Pinsky Law Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:50:28 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-52100 What is significant about this case is the SCC went farther than ever before in a PMNOC case. typically you only invalidate in a full blown action involving a counter claim or an impeachment suit. In PMNOC cases the inquiry is limited to whethere the generic's allegation was or was not justified. Very good day for generics in Canada and consumers down the road.... - john Sun, 10 Mar 2013 16:58:46 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-51863 "In man, certain especially preferred compounds have been tested orally in both single dose and multiple dose volunteer studies. Moreover, patient studies conducted thus far have confirmed that one of the especially preferred compounds induces penile erection in impotent males. [Emphasis added; A.R., vol. X, at p. 173.]". This is Pfizer's statement about their invention. As the Supreme Court Judge ruled this is NOT proper disclosure. The bargain made is that any reasonable person should be able to understand and reproduce the candidate for a Patent for wich Pfizer is granted exclusive access to the invention for a certain period of time. Pfizer, the Supreme Court ruled, obscured the compounds to two leaving any reasonable person unable to duplicate the compound. - Fayre Playe Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:12:13 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49764 Apparently Pfizer is not happy with this ruling and has asked for reconsideration. The SCC response is essentially ... while the penalty is indeed stiff, take it like a man. - Crockett Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:54:18 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49700 Over here we have laws that apply to both companies and citizens. Too bad Pfizer thought it could get away with gaming the patent system. gurjeet - gurjeet Mon, 19 Nov 2012 02:54:09 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49663 In reality according to the AMA International Medical Graduates(IMG) represent 25% of the physicians in the USA. In some major cities that number is as high as 45%. AS far as Docs per capita, sure North Korea has more but they only have a life expectancy of 68 years so it doesn't buy them much. Here is the real reason that drugs are cheap in other countries. Mostly the government is the sole or nearly the sole buyer of drugs. The negotiation on price goes like this. The drug company comes in and the governments, "We are cutting your price 20% as of now. Take it or leave it." Don't even get me started on parallel trade. - Ted Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:06:57 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49660 LOL @ DB Cooper The reason drugs are so expensive in the US is because people in the US are too dumb to do anything about the gauging. Medical procedures and the cost of doctors is also most expensive in the US, but wait, if it was a free market, that would mean more doctors right? They all would be flooding to the US. Guess what, no such luck, the US is very restrictive to new doctors, the numbers are the lowest in the western world per capita, hence there is no free market even though the pay is the best in the world. Soooo little buddy the system is rigged. - joeMoma Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:32:32 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49642 Nice work, Pfizer astroturfers! By the way, I believe that in the USA, Pfizer used the lack of disclosure in the initial application, coupled with later disclosure, to argue for an EXTENSION of the Viagra monopoly in the USA! I have read articles claiming that they have been successful in obtaining an extension in the USA on the basis that they may have changed the formulation since initial introduction, claiming that the clock should be reset to the time of the "improved" formulation. - NotAnAstroTurfer Mon, 12 Nov 2012 10:28:07 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49637 I'm patiently waiting until this gets to software patents. It would mean that either you open source it or your patent is invalid. - Napalm Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:38:11 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49620 1. Actually both the generics cases I brought up and many others demonstrate that when you cut cost to the bone you have to cut expenses somewhere. Sadly it is often quality. As the medical director of a large VA hospital recently told me, "you can't provide a months worth of medication for 10.99 and expect much". 2. Pfizer pulled Trovan off the market immediately after there was any hint of problems. 3. Pfizer pulled Bextra proactively off the market after there was a statistically insignificant signal in the data about cardiac issues. Many physicians and patients asked that it be kept on the market even knowing the risks. 4. The issues around data and SSRI's in general have more to do with a general lack of understanding of the role of serotonin in depression by the general public and appropriate patient selection by primary care physicians. 5. I agree that government oversight of pharma is crucial. I wish that supplements and vitamins had the same oversight here in the US. I cringe whenever an ad says help your vision with XXX once a day. 6. Indisputably, when IP is not protected innovation founders. Say anything you want but that is a stone cold fact. - Ted Sun, 11 Nov 2012 19:25:50 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49619 Bringing up the "generic oxicodone from China with no oxicodone it" shows a clear failure of understanding generics, and willfully conflating them with fraudulent products. - Ray Saintonge Sun, 11 Nov 2012 15:58:33 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49618 @Ted: In Canada, kneejerk ad hominem attacks do not inform the bulk of our public discourse. Pfizer has its share of skewed clinical studies and unethical releases: Chantix, Lipitor, Geodon, Trovan, Bextra, Celebrex, Lyrica, and Zoloft are examples. Oversight and scrutiny by government are absolutely necessary especially in the case of pharmaceuticals to represent the interests and safety of the public. The invisible hand doesn't work to regulate industries, we have seen very clearly. Bravo to our supreme court for standing up and defending the public interest! - Adam Sun, 11 Nov 2012 10:10:15 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49616 Yes that's right. Voted for Obama. Support Obamacare even though it will cost me. I am not a troll. I promise. I have worked in healthcare for a long time. The thing is I am not brainwashed. I just understand the realities of the drug business. Guess what, the Gates foundation was going to solve diseases of poverty. How many drugs have they come up with? Zero. That not being a troll. That's just a fact. Drug discover is a high risk business and that is what no one wants to hear. Pfizer paid a billion dollars for a compound called torcetrapib and at the end of some of the early trials they had to pull the plug because there were some signals that there might be excessive risk. Now the conventional wisdom would have you believe that a drug company would suppress the trial. Sweep it under the rug. Launch the drug and make billions while innocents died. But that didn't happen. Pfizer pulled the plug and flushed a billion dollars down the toilet. How many lives have statins saved. Remember it is a scientific FACT that they save lives. How many lives have antibiotics saved. Remember it is a fact they save lives. When was the last time you did anything that contributed to actually saving a life. Great work on that new chat client! - Ted Sat, 10 Nov 2012 22:35:09 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49614 A female Viagra? - Gregg Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:33:30 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49610 @DB Cooper The damnable thing is that I can't tell whether you're joking or dead serious. What you said is just so utterly ridiculous, yet sounds so much like Republican talking points. "Canadas patent laws are the reason drugs are so much more expensive in the US." A market one tenth of America's drives up prices really high? This ruling only applies to Canada after all. "Governments produce nothing and only take." What do you think patent laws are? Something created by the private sector, rather than the Canadian parliament? And how would the private sector fare without patent laws? "In this cas I suspect ample bribs were taken." Unanimous decision of the Canadian Supreme Court. They must have all been bribed, eh? Think about that again - unanimous ruling. Can't imagine a clearer sign that Pfizer did something wrong. - Hephaestus Sat, 10 Nov 2012 02:04:00 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49608 I can't believe some of the negative comments I'm reading here. You'd think Big Pharma had sent their minions to tweet their 'poor us' trumpets, while in reality they average double digit yearly profits while people are dying because they can't afford life-saving but overpriced medication... I'd like to see how DB Cooper, Ted and other self-righteous, brainwashed reactionaries would feel if they had to pay $2,000 a month for medication, like a relative of mine in the US had to pay for several years to get back to health. If he hadn't been well to do, he'd be dead by now, like regular folks out there. Aren't Excess Copyright and Patent Prison great? No wonder average lifespan is lower in the US than in Canada... Pitiful! - Chris C. Sat, 10 Nov 2012 01:05:07 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49607 @Carlos: a few thoughts Ask the multitudes of people here with fungal meningitis and fungal abscesses about what kind of value they think they're getting from their low cost generic pharmaceuticals. Or ask the chronic pain patients who a while back received generic oxicodone from China with no oxicodone it. Or you could ask why the US government went to pharma hat in hand basically begging them to work on next gen AI drugs. Why? Because we are all screwed without them. MDRTB and XDRTB are taking off. Dengue is taking off like a rocket. And on and on. I want big pharma to make money more than any other class of company except new energy. - Ted Fri, 09 Nov 2012 23:46:36 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49606 For those complaining about this decision, just go look it up in Wikipedia. First paragraph is exactly what the SCC said. - Richard Westgate Fri, 09 Nov 2012 23:32:09 +0100 http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6693/125/#comment-49605 It seems to me that if they obscured the invention then invalidating the patent would not lead to generic drugs. The fact that there are so many generic Viagra's out there already would imply that the patent filings gave a clear path to duplicating the invention. - Hutz Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:46:55 +0100