Our drug patent system is antiquated, causing the price of medication to rise. Thirty-four million Americans lost a family member or friend in the last five years, not because a treatment didn’t exist, but because they couldn’t afford it. Rising drug costs are pushing families into homelessness, seniors into bankruptcy and parents to crowdfunding treatment for critically ill children. Is this the world we want to live in? We as Americans need to better understand this issue and how we can take action, and force change.
Social Posts on Drug Patents and Rising Healthcare Costs
“The higher a patent wall a company builds, the longer they hold on to their monopoly. And with no one to compete with, they can set prices at whim – and because these are medicines & not designer watches, we have no choice but to pay.” https://t.co/QxMbMoD67q#TEDWomen2019 pic.twitter.com/MZEXXRyJMl
— Priti Krishtel (@pritikrishtel) December 17, 2019
Between 2006 and 2016, the number of drug patents granted in the U.S. doubled. To learn why, watch @pritikrishtel explain how drug companies accumulate patents not for new medicines but for small changes to existing ones, and how this drives #DrugPrices up https://t.co/LqsrDQNxu5
— Commonwealth Fund (@commonwealthfnd) January 24, 2020
Just saw this insightful @TEDTalks by attorney @pritikrishtel, whose father is a patent-holding inventor. What a smart way to explain how we might fix patents and drug prices. "It's about our quest to invent and our right to live." https://t.co/U2XTwG3QQt
— Jahna Berry (@jahnaberry) January 24, 2020