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A common method for determining the patent status of medicines internationally is highly imprecise and complicates medicine access by obscuring the true medicine patent landscape for policymakers and procurement officers.
A look at the global landscape of biofuel patenting shows that, after surging between 2004 and 2008, the invention of biofuel technologies slowed considerably, and in many countries went into decline. Global trends point to an uncertain future, in particular, for advanced biofuels.
Cash payments and other arrangements between patent holders and their competitors in exchange for a delayed market entry interfere with free-market principles and keep product prices at a premium, which affects payers, governments, healthcare providers and especially patients.
Knowledge-sharing strategies differ depending on the nature of the research objectives of public–private partnerships, but information about such strategies is often vague.
What have we learned from 20 tumultuous years of patent law in the life sciences? Is patenting likely to be as important for the industry in the future?
The development of patent-specific educational resources and prompt resolution of patentability rules unsettled by recent US Supreme Court decisions are urgently needed in the genomics industry.